Something About You
by MarryTheNight25
Summary: Sara is in a storyline with CM Punk and is positive that he hates her...Randy puts the moves on Sara and Punk's true feelings come to light...will she have trouble choosing, or is the choice obvious? Story for futureWWEdiva2011
1. Chapter 1

**New Story, yeah! :) **

**Started this story based on an idea from futureWWEDiva2011 and it's really clicked creatively...a few challenges with this one and you'll probably pick them up off the bat if you've read my stuff before, but I'm embracing it and really enjoying it...**

**Please try to add, favorite and review so I can get some feedback...I unfortunately own nothing, but I hope you enjoy anyway!**

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**Sara's POV:**

Perhaps it was the crowd that distracted me, or my own thoughts, but whatever it was I missed my spot and realized it too late.

"Shit!" I watched as Punk was caught in a roll-up, but luckily for me he kicked out at the last possible second. This win was supposed to be an easy one, a smooth win, where I jumped up the on apron, distracted the ref, Punk hits the low blow and goes for the cover; however I'd lost complete focus with the match and I knew I was going to hear about it because I always heard about it regardless if it was my mistake or not.

I watched as Punk hit the GTS on Rey Mysterio and pinned him for the win. As the ref raised his hand above his head and I made to join him in the ring, he shot me a glare that told me I was in for it, nothing I didn't know already. I sat on the ropes as Punk climbed out and I followed suit practically chasing him up the ramp. As soon as I was through the curtain, he started.

"What the fuck was that? You have one thing to do, one, and you can't even do that right! Jesus Christ, you almost cost me the match all because you can't follow the script. Seriously how hard is it to jump up on the apron and distract the ref? Huh? Could you answer me that?" I looked down at the ground trying to keep the tears at bay. I should be used to him yelling at me by now because he does it regardless if he wins or loses; if it's a loss it's my fault, if it's a win he still finds something to pick at. He's complained about my clothes, my hair, the way I interfere; pretty much you name it and Phil Brooks has bitched at me about it.

"I'm sorry Phil, I didn't realize…"

"You're sorry; you didn't realize…what else is new! Can't you think of a better excuse?" I shook my head as I bit my lip trying to hold myself together. Punk let out a deep breath before throwing his hands up, "Even though I know this is stupid to say, don't screw up again! I'm hoping for my sake that there's not much time left in this storyline and I get my title shot and get rid of you soon, but as long as I'm stuck with you, get your head out of your ass and get it together!" I nodded looking at his face as he rolled his eyes and walked down the hallway. I took another deep breath before heading down the opposite hallway towards the divas locker room.

I felt bad that I'd missed the spot, I had one job to do and I had screwed it up. Granted there was a lot on my mind, my father was sick and I was practically exhausted, but regardless I needed to find a way to suck it up and work through it. The last thing I wanted was sympathy, not that it mattered because I didn't have a lot of friends backstage. I spent most of my time with Phil and needless to say he was an asshole and didn't seem to like me very much. There were a few divas I was cordial with, but overall things weren't working out like I thought they would.

I turned the corner to head to the locker room and ran into someone. Seeing most people I'd met so far were far from friendly, I immediately went to apologize.

"I'm so sorry…" I looked up and noticed the most beautiful pair of steel blue eyes and it immediately made me lose my words.

"It's okay; I should pay attention to were I'm going rather then walking and texting. Are you okay?"

"Mmm hmm…" He looked at me for a minute before recognition dawned on him.

"You're Sara right? The new diva with Punk?" I nodded as a nervous smile graced my lips.

"Yes, I'm Sara Martin and you are…"

"Randy Orton, it's nice to meet you."

"I knew that, but it's nice to meet you too Randy. Umm, if you'll excuse me I need to get changed; Punk wants to leave soon so we can head to the next city. Sorry for running into you again."

"Not a problem, it's actually the nicest run in I've had in a while." He winked and I felt my heart speed up, practically beating out of my chest. "See you around Sara."

I watched Randy walk away and couldn't help but bite my lip. I knew who he was and I'd always found him attractive, but seeing him up close was surreal. Shaking my head to regain my focus, I headed to the locker room to change and gather my stuff; as I looked in the mirror I noticed the goofy grin on my face and laughed to myself. I hadn't seen that smile since I'd joined the WWE circus three months ago, but it looked natural and I hoped I'd find it in time.

Just as I gathered the last of my stuff, I ran to use the bathroom and quickly regretted it when I heard Natalya yelling for me. I rolled my eyes knowing Phil, who seemed to think he was my keeper, was impatiently waiting for me. As much as he wanted to get out of our current storyline I was equally ready to part with him because he was a controlling prick 95% of the time; the other 5% he was sleeping! Just because I was his on-screen girlfriend, he seemed to think I was at his beckon call and it really rubbed me the wrong way, however there wasn't much I could do. If I wanted to be the best, I had to work with the best and Phil Brooks aka CM Punk was the best in the world.

Grabbing my bag I said goodbye to my colleagues and met Punk in the hallway and he immediately shot me a look to let me know he was irritated; when wasn't he irritated?

"You really suck at time management…I honestly don't understand why you can't gather your things and meet me in catering within thirty minutes, no instead I have to come looking for you. You should be really lucky I'm such a nice guy because I thought about just leaving you behind!" Punk started walking down the hallway at a brisk pace and I followed. I couldn't help but wonder what qualified him as a 'nice guy' because if this was him being nice, I'd hate to see him pissed off.

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**Punk's POV:**

A lot of people thought I was hard on Sara, but I didn't think so. If she wanted to make it in this business she needed to toughen up her skin, and despite the countless times I bitched at her for missing spots, her look or being late, she still looked like she was ready to cry, so clearly I'm not being hard enough on her.

Despite what everyone thinks about me, I don't like being mean to women, but if I see potential in them then I automatically go into asshole mode. Sara Martin has potential, though clearly she hasn't realized it. I've seen her tapes from the indies, she wrestles her ass off, but unless she toughens up her skin, changes her gimmick and grows a backbone, she'll be dead in the water. I've seen it a million times, with both guys and girls, they come into this business with their happy smiley faces and they're future endeavored within three months.

I could probably be a little nicer to Sara, but when she misses simple spots, which she does more then she's willing to admit, it pisses me off. Clearly she can't focus on what her job is, and if she can't do a simple interference then there's no way in hell she'll wrestle even a five minute match without hurting herself or someone else.

We'd been in the car for almost twenty minutes before she said anything, and the first words out of her mouth made me shake my head.

"Phil I'm really sorry about not meeting you in catering, but…"

"I don't want to hear your reasons or your apologies for that matter; what I want is for you to get your head together and be on time. By on time I don't mean meet me at the last minute, I mean you should be standing there waiting for me. It's called respect; you should show me some every now and then." I didn't even have to look to know she was rolling her eyes and even though it should piss me off, it made me laugh a little bit. I wouldn't deny that she wasn't trying, putting forth an effort, but something was going on in that pretty little head of hers that was causing her to fuck up all the time.

"Even though you don't want to hear an apology, I still owe you one for being late as well as missing that spot. I promise that from here on out I'll try harder, stay more focused, but it's been hard lately." Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. As clear as it was to me that something was going on, I didn't care to hear about it. That's why she had friends in the divas locker room because I didn't do personal problems.

"Well whatever is going on with you; shut it off because if it gets me injured, you're done; not just with me, but in general. I'll make it a point to have you fired."

"Yes sir…"

"Don't do that…" I watched as she flipped her brown hair over her shoulder, which I found distracting. I don't know what my deal is because I honestly don't like this girl, the only reason why I put up with her is because I have to and I think she can be better then what she is with a little guidance; however there's something about her that I can't ignore. The way she flips her hair, yawns all the time, her icy blue eyes, the golden tone of her skin and the way she smells…I swear I smell vanilla even when she's not around. As much as I try not to like her at all, there are little things that have me thinking about her constantly.

"Is there any chance we can get some food?"

"It wasn't in the game plan, because you were supposed to eat at the arena, but if it'll keep you from complaining for the next four hours, then I guess we'll stop somewhere."

"If it's a problem then never mind…" I could sense the annoyance in her tone and knew I'd hit a nerve.

"I'm already in the lane to turn off for the next exit, so don't never mind me now." I could hear Sara let out a deep, agitated sigh and I thought maybe, just maybe, I'd really struck a cord and for once she'd stand up for herself, but as I pulled into McDonalds there was nothing. "You've got ten minutes, so make it quick…"

"Ahh, I hate fast food, it's the worst part about this job."

"Yeah, it makes you fat, so you should probably watch what you eat." As hard as it was I managed to keep my laugh at bay when I noticed the look on her face, clearly she was pissed off; seeing I'd just called her fat, I understood why.

"Do you want anything?"

"Diet Pepsi, and make it snappy you now have six minutes…" I watched as Sara got out of the car and let out a sigh. Maybe I should lighten up on her, but then again where is the fun in being nice all the time.

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**Not what you were expecting? Regardless I hope you still like it...please review! Thanks :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**My bad on the lack of update, it's unlike me to go a week without updating...**

**Happy to see the reviews, adds and favorites I'm getting from this story, hope it continues...enjoy!**

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I was woken up by an obnoxious shaking, my head bumping off the window. I looked to the left of me seeing Phil with that smart ass smirk planted on his lips; it took everything I had not to smack it off.

"Wake up lazy, we're at the hotel."

"What time is it?"

"Do I look like a god damn clock? I don't know, get a watch, or look at your phone…the damn thing wouldn't stop vibrating. Just so you know your mom called and also Randy texted you." I looked at him not sure if I should be pissed off that he'd looked through my phone, or excited that Randy had texted me. The thought of how he got my number passed through my head, or if Phil had fucked everything up texting him some smart ass remark, but I pushed everything aside feeling it was way more important to get my bags and head to my room. For once I was looking forward to sleeping in a hotel seeing I wouldn't have to share a room with AJ; granted she was a sweet girl, but she had a borderline obsession with Phil and spent way too much time asking me questions about him.

"Thanks for passing on the info, but next time just leave my phone alone…"

"Next time don't fall asleep and we won't have to worry about that. Then again all that greasy garbage you ate from McDonalds, no wonder you're tired. You should probably make sure you hit the gym early tomorrow because that shit will go straight to your ass; just ask Eve that's what happened to her." I rolled my eyes again as I walked into the hotel lobby following Phil to the concierge desk to check-in. It was irritating just how ignorant he could be, but at the same time he was right; I could afford to lose a few pounds, plus kicking the punching bag kept my anger in check so I didn't feel the need to kick him.

After receiving my key card from the front desk, I headed towards the elevator feeling more irritated that Phil had waited for me. Perhaps it was him trying to be a gentleman, but I looked at it as him being a stalker. He was already around me at least six hours a day, so having to travel with him and look at him even longer irked me. All I had to do was make it another two months and our storyline would be over…or so I was hoping for that.

"Which floor princess?" I glared in his direction even though I knew I shouldn't let him see that he was pushing my buttons.

"Five please…"

"Funny that's the floor I'm on…"

"Of course it is…" I mumbled under my breath noticing when Phil shot me a look.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing…I'm tired, so can you please just push the button Punk!" Phil pushed the button and the elevator doors started to close as we headed to our floor. The ding signaled that we had arrived on the fifth floor and to no surprise, I saw that Phil had the room next to mine. For someone who seemed to hate me, he was seriously a creepy stalker type. Trying to be on my best behavior and show that I was a classy lady, I bid him good night.

"Good night Punk…"

"Good night Sara…I'll make sure to call you for our 8AM gym session."

"That's nice of you, but I already planned on sleeping in and heading to the gym at 10…"

"Well those plans have changed, so I'll be knocking on your door at 8AM…make sure your ass is ready because you know I hate waiting." I held back the urge to roll my eyes instead just nodding as I swiped my key waiting for the light to turn green.

"Okay fine, you win…"

"Yes I do, unless you fuck up because that's the only way I lose…" I ignored the last part of his snarky comment and slammed the door. Putting my bags in the corner, I collapsed on the bed screaming into the pillow, trying to tame the feeling of wanting to strangle someone. I settled on my back taking a few deep breaths to calm down when my phone started vibrating catching my attention. I debated answering it figuring it was probably Phil being his douchey self, but reached for it and was pleasantly surprised to see Randy had texted me.

_Hey Sara, I wasn't sure if you got my first text, so I figured I'd try again. If I don't get a response then I'll take the hint, though it'll be a big blow to my ego.-Randy_

I bit my lip trying to contain my excitement as I felt my heart start to race. I felt like a fifteen year old girl with mixed emotions and took a minute before replying.

_Sorry about that, the long drive wore me out and I fell asleep. I'm a horrible co-pilot, or at least Punk thinks so…-Sara_

I barely waited a minute before he texted back.

_Punk's just jealous because he never gets any…sleep that is…-Randy_

I laughed to myself knowing that both parts were completely true; he was an insomniac that read graphic novels all hours of the night and women were far too wise then to give him a second glance once he opened his mouth, which he couldn't do without an asshole comment coming out.

_Very true, on both accounts…-Sara_

My phone stopped buzzing and I worried maybe I was boring him, but as I got into my suitcase to get out my pajamas and change, it buzzed from the night stand again much to my excitement.

_So, enough about that bear and his sore ass, would you like to go out sometime…like grab food, or just hang out?-Randy_

I jumped up and down trying to keep myself from screaming, but this was beyond exciting. Randy was a catch, by far one of the most attractive guys on the roster, and he could help me get away from Punk, even if only for a few hours.

_Sounds great…-Sara_

_What about tomorrow morning, breakfast at 8AM?-Randy_

I thought about Punk's scheduled gym session for a minute before saying fuck it. I didn't want to work out with him, or train with him for that matter. His workouts were always the same thing and training was a joke; I hadn't learned shit in weeks because he kept harping about my moonsault claiming that if I didn't practice my landing I'd end up injured. I'd been doing a moonsault as my finisher for years and nothing had ever gone wrong, so clearly he was just too lazy to show me something new.

_Sounds great…meet you in the lobby at 7:45?-Sara_

_It's a date…-Randy_

Date…date…oh my God I had just made a date with Randy Orton; a walking, talking Greek God among men. I turned out the light and cuddled up under the covers unable to wipe the smile off my face. Granted Punk would be pissed that I was ditching him, but Randy was so worth it, and perhaps he could bring out the confidence that I so badly needed to display.

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My alarm went off at 6:30 and I groaned searching for the snooze button. Rolling onto my back I wondered why in the hell I was awake at such an ungodly hour when it dawned on me that I was meeting Randy Orton for breakfast in ninety minutes. My cheeks began to hurt from smiling and already I could feel the butterflies fluttering as I skipped into the bathroom to shower.

After debating for almost thirty minutes on what to wear, I chose to go with a simple black tank top and some skinny jeans, flip flops adorning my feet and showing off my pedicure. While fiddling with my hair in the mirror, I heard a knock at the door and froze worried it was Punk arriving early for our workout session that I'd planned on ditching. I tiptoed to the door and looked out the peephole; much to my surprise 'The Viper' was on the other side of the door. I took a minute to relax before opening the door trying my best to strike a cute impromptu pose.

"Randy, hey, I thought I was meeting you in the lobby?" He smirked and I thought for sure I'd died right there on the spot. There was nothing short of perfection with Randy Orton, which made me wonder why he wanted me.

"That was the plan, but I got ready early, so I figured I'd just come meet you. I asked the front desk what room you were in, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," I could hear myself sounding like an idiot; why did this man make me feel like an awkward teenager that had never been asked out by one of the popular guys? "I'm not quite ready, but why don't you come in and make yourself comfortable, I'll only be another minute or so." He nodded as I moved to let him pass into the room. Going to close the door I caught a glimpse of his back side and couldn't help but bite my lip. Randy headed toward my bed and the dirty thoughts started cluttering my head, making it very difficult to focus as I applied my eyeliner and mascara.

"So, just curious, but is Punk okay with this?" That statement brought me back to reality as I walked out of the bathroom feeling my temper rising.

"Why would it matter what Punk would think? He's not my keeper, despite what he might think..." Randy froze noticing the irritation in my tone and raising his hands in defense.

"Okay, I was just curious...it's pretty obvious he has a thing for you..." I interrupted Randy with a bout of laughter.

"Are you kidding me! That is seriously the funniest thing I've heard in my life. Phil Brooks having a 'thing' for me is just plain ridiculous. He's never said a nice thing to me ever, and just because I put up with his controlling bullshit doesn't mean I'll take that from anybody. I work with Punk, I either deal with him or my life will be much more miserable then it already is." Randy simply nodded not sure what to do.

"Anyway, I'm ready to go, are you?" I pushed my hair out of my face as I collected my emotions and tried to calm myself.

"Ah yeah, if you're ready, then so am I...actually I've been ready for this for a while, looking forward to it..." I smiled as the happy, floaty feeling I'd been feeling returned, my cheeks blushing hot.

"We'll I'm happy to hear that...any ideas on where to go?"

"A little mom and pop diner a few blocks away, they have the best pancakes, that is if you're up for sharing a stack with me."

"I don't usually share, but for you I can make an exception." Randy opened the door and I casually walked out feeling his hand rest on my lower back as we made it to the elevator.

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**BTW: If you haven't seen Punk's documentary, "Best In the World," do yourself a favor and watch it...amazing...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Quick update...hope to update again soon...**

**Thanks to all the new followers for adding/reviewing/favoriting this story :) Enjoy!**

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**Punk POV**

I woke up later then planned finding my phone on the floor where the alarm usually ended up. Looking at it, I saw that it was already 8:45, I was late and there's nothing I hate more then being late. The worst part was I would bet money that Sara didn't have her ass up either, so our early gym session wasn't going to happen until at least 9:30.

I grabbed my phone and sent her a few texts before going into the bathroom and splashing water on my face. I'd managed to get four hours of sleep, which is a lot for me, but I'd had another dream about her. Running my hand through my hair I looked at my reflection and questioned who was looking back. I'd always been so sure of every decision I made in my life, but with Sara it was different. I wanted to push her to be better, but I saw what I did. Despite what many thought I felt guilty when she would cry, but I'm not the comforting type. I can romance a girl with hearts and flowers any day of the week once I'm with her, but getting to that point has always been my downfall.

Images of last nights dream still haunted me; the view of her in my bed with only a sheet was enough to wake me up, and it woke up other things as well. I thought about telling her how I felt, but there was no way she'd take me seriously. The bad thing is it seemed obvious to everyone back stage, except her, that I had a thing for her and it was becoming harder and harder to deny.

I threw on my sweats and an old ROH T, my Rancid sweatshirt and some sneakers. Grabbing what I needed, I checked my phone and realized there weren't any replies from Sara, which meant she was still asleep. I thought about just leaving her go, but my weakness for wanting to see her won out as I walked next door and knocked on the door. I knocked and knocked, but didn't hear so much as a 'go away' that she usually yelled. I felt concerned for a minute, but remembered how tired she was the night before and chose to leave it go; besides it would give me a reason to get on her shit later.

The elevator ride to the lobby was ridiculously slow and it made me wish I'd just taken the stairs, which I wished again when the doors opened and I witnessed Sara and Randy holding hands and laughing as if they'd known each other for ages. There was a stabbing pain in my chest, partly because I was witnessing a side of Sara I never saw and also because of all the guys she could have picked, she was with Orton. I'd had my issues with Randy in the past, and though we still weren't on the best of terms, I put up with him as a colleague. I glared in their direction for a minute before ducking into the gym hoping I hadn't been seen.

Just when I was beginning to think maybe I should ease up on Sara, she pulls this shit. How could she do this to me? And Orton...well he was one of the first to realize that I felt something for her. Clearly I'd done something to piss him off that he decided to swoop in and take any chance I had with Sara away. I punched the bag until my knuckles were raw and then turned to the treadmill to try to run out the rest of my anger. Obviously Sara was happy, which meant I either had to figure out a way to ruin that, or to make her more miserable. I wasn't about to give up, it's just not in my nature.

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**Sara POV**

Randy walked me back to my room and I couldn't help but feel like I was on cloud nine. Breakfast had been more then I bargained for; the food was delicious and the conversation was never ending. Randy informed me that he'd been previously married and hadn't dated much in the last two years, I was also surprised to find out he had a five year old daughter. As shocking as it was, I was happy that he felt confident enough to divulge the information on our first date, it made it feel like a sense of trust was building between the two of us.

After sharing a stack of pancakes and a plate of bacon, we took our time walking back to the hotel, just continuing our conversation. I told him a little bit about my life, that I was the only girl out of four kids, and the youngest, but when he asked about my parents even I noticed the fall in my mood. I explained that my dad had been battling cancer for the last year and things had been up and down as of late; just when there seemed to be a bit of hope, more bad news would come. It was really hard to keep from getting emotional, but as I felt Randy wrap his arm around my shoulder things changed. He had a way of making me feel safe, something I hadn't felt since I started my WWE journey.

"What are you doing after the show tonight?"

"Probably heading to the next city...Punk doesn't like to hang around, he's very much a pack and go person."

"I take it you're not?"

"I don't know, I don't mind it, but sometimes after a show I'd like to relax in a bed rather then fall asleep in a car and deal with him complaining about how I'm a horrible co-pilot. Just once I'd like to be able to take Eve up on her invitation to go out, but it'll never happen, well not until this ridiculous boyfriend/girlfriend storyline ends."

"If you hate working with him so much then why don't you talk to Vince or Stephanie? They'll listen you know, especially since pretty much anyone could back you up with Punk's attitude towards you."

"I don't want to rock the boat...I'm new around here, and Punk isn't that bad, I just need to toughen up and not let his words sting so much." Randy was quiet and I wasn't sure what he was thinking.

"Why don't you travel with me? It would be a good way for us to get to know each other and it gets you away from Punk for a while..."

"I don't know, Punk wouldn't be too pleased with that...he likes to strategize on the drive." In all actuality Punk almost never talked about our storyline until right before a match. He'd ask me if I knew what I was supposed to do and I'd nod, he'd look at me funny and that was it. Our car rides usually consisted of him complaining about everything from driving to colleagues; most of the time I either blocked him out or went to sleep. The man truly was miserable, but I wondered if he'd always been that way.

"Who cares about Punk? You said it yourself, he doesn't matter...just think about it and let me know. I think we'd have a good time on the road." I smiled at the thought and wondered if maybe it was time for a change. I liked getting to know Randy and clearly the feeling was mutual, but for some reason I didn't want to hurt Punk's feelings, if he even had feelings.

"I'll think about, maybe even talk it over with Punk, and let you know." We stopped outside my hotel room and for the first time all morning I noticed the sparkle in his blue eyes, he truly was gorgeous from head to toe. "Thanks for breakfast this morning, even if I do have to spend an extra hour in the gym those pancakes were worth it." Randy smiled giving my hand a squeeze.

"You don't need an extra hour in the gym, look at you, you're beautiful. I honestly wouldn't change anything about you." I smiled once again feeling my cheeks blush; Randy was so much more then I ever dreamed I'd get in a man and here he was telling me I was beautiful just as I was.

"Well thank you, you're not so bad looking yourself." An awkward silence fell between us and I decided to end it by going inside my room. "Anyway, thanks again for today, it was nice..."

"Sara..."

"Yeah..."

"I want to be honest with you," I held my breath thinking for sure that this was the moment where everything would take a dive. Silly Sara, thinking someone like Randy Orton would go for you, God sometimes I can be so stupid! "I really want to kiss you right now, but I'm not sure you're ready for that." I swallowed hearing his words and instantly feeling speechless. With a nod I gave him a small smile as he leaned closer pressing his lips to mine. It was simple and sweet and his lips were softer then I imagined they'd be. When he pulled away, he looked at me again with those sparkling blue eyes making me feel breathless all over again. "I'll see you at the arena Sara..."

"Yeah, I'll see you there...bye Randy..." I finally pulled my gaze away from him focusing on getting the door opened, but gave him one last wave before I went inside. As if it were a scene from a movie, I ran across the room and dove onto the queen size bed, a big smile permanently planted on my face; there was no way that today could go wrong.

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**Punk POV**

After finishing my workout, I showered and ordered an early lunch only to find I had no appetite. All I could think about was what I'd seen when I stepped off the elevator, which brought on mixed emotions at this point. Part of me was pissed off because it should have been me that was taking Sara out and making her laugh, while the other part didn't give a shit. Obviously Sara was okay with having the reputation of being easy because everyone knew that's the only good that came from dating Randy Orton. In the end the anger won out and I found myself plotting against Sara's budding relationship.

At 2PM, right when I knew she'd be laying down and relaxing for the show, I decided to pay her a little visit. Pounding on the door for almost two minutes, she finally answered looking less then pleased and I made it a point to put a smirk on my face, something that irritated her further.

"Oh I'm sorry were you busy?"

"What do you want Punk?"

"I just wanted to see what the hell the deal was with you missing our workout this morning. I'm beginning to think you like being fat and jobbing to Beth Phoenix because if you don't start putting in the workout and training time then that will be your career." Looking at her face, I noticed the change in her expression and wondered if today would be the day she'd snap. Usually at this point she'd have tears in her eyes, but her eyes were clear and the same bright blue, the ones that haunted me every night.

"What is your problem with me? Seriously why do you even care if I show up to the gym or not? I didn't plan on going at 8AM, you did, and I don't know why it was so important for me to be there."

"Ohh, someone is a little feisty today; just curious is it that time of the month? Wait no that's not it, that was last week." The look on her face showed that I was pushing all the right buttons and for a minute I thought she was going to deck me, but after a few deep breaths, she pulled herself together.

"I'm sorry Phil, but I just don't understand you…"

"Here's the deal, we're in a storyline together and you need to look good if you're going to be with me. If your appearance slips then you're out, so either start caring or kiss your storyline goodbye." I noticed her eyes glaze over and knew I'd hit a nerve and decided there was no better time but now to put the final nail in the coffin. "You might be thinking, 'big deal I don't want to work with this douche bag anyway' but word in the creative department is they have nothing for you, thus I'm still stuck with you."

"I'm sorry for this morning. I should have answered your texts…"

"Because I'm a nice guy, I'll accept your apology, but seriously don't even think about standing me up again. I'm an important man and I take my workouts and training very seriously. I don't have time for your bullshit; I'm trying to help you stand out and be one of the best, but if you're not going to put in the time or the work then please let me know now because I'd hate to think I'm wasting my time. There are a dozen other divas in developmental that would kill to work with me and all I have to do is say the word and you're gone…and by gone I'm saying best of luck in your future endeavors."

"I get it and I apologize…it won't happen again."

"Good, I'm glad we worked that out. Now make sure you're ready by 5, we're checking out and heading to the arena. Tonight after the show we'll head straight to Kansas City." I noticed her biting her lip and knew she was thinking something. "Is there a problem with that…"

"No…well…"

"Sara is there a problem or isn't there? It's a simple question, quit stuttering and answer it!"

"I wanted to go out tonight…we don't have to be in Kansas City until late tomorrow, so I thought maybe we could stay the night here and just head out tomorrow."

"You want to go out where? With who?"

"A club, it's not far from here; a couple of people from the roster are going…"

"Who is going and why were you invited? Usually only popular people get invited out, you're just a nobody right now…"

"Well, I don't know everyone that is going, but Randy is going, he's the one who asked me."

"Orton asked you to some skuzzy club, why does that not surprise me? He's probably planning to get you drunk and get in your pants. Be careful, he likes to make special tapes and show them around."

"He's not like that Phil!"

"How would you know?" I looked her straight in the eye waiting for her to tell me about their date, but she didn't. Instead she kept her gaze on the carpet and I watched her swipe away a stray tear. Once again I felt bad, but at the same time I considered us even. She now felt the exact same way I had when I'd seen her and Randy canoodling in the lobby looking like the king and queen of the prom. I hated people like that and I knew deep down that wasn't the person she was.

"Anyway, I have shit I need to do, but like I said be ready to go by 5…I'll think about staying for the night…"

"You will?"

"Is that not what I said? Yes, I'll think about it, but me thinking about it doesn't mean much, so don't get excited. If we stay it has nothing to do with you dressing like a slut and going to some sleaze bar, it's more for me to relax for once seeing I do all the driving. Go back to doing whatever you're doing; I'll just let myself out…"

I walked out the door feeling no better then when I walked in. What was it about this girl that made me feel this way? Regardless if she ever ended up with me or not, she deserved better then Orton and I was going to make damn sure she didn't end up with him. Pulling out my phone I dialed AJ's number. She'd wanted me for a while and tonight was her lucky night.

"Hello…"

"Hey AJ, it's Punk…any chance you want to hit a club after the show tonight?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the delay...I had a touch of writer's block and then when I got some things going five million things happened at once leaving me with no time to write or update :/ Bah...**

**However, I'm back and very happy to see some new adds/favorites and reviews from both new and old friends :) I'm glad everyone is into this story so far, even with Punk being less then his usual sweet, romantic self (which is how I usually write him)...**

**Anyway, this chapter has some crazy twists to it...enjoy and please review! :)**

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**Punk's POV**

As great as a cover as AJ was, she became increasingly irritating the minute we sat down. Fortunately for me, I learned how to block people out years ago, yet still make them think I was interested in what they were saying. While AJ rambled on about comic books, something that usually interested me, my eyes were glued on Sara, the one thing that I found far more interesting then comic books. She looked amazing in a short red dress, her dark hair in waves around her face and I couldn't help but wonder why she didn't dress like this all the time. For the first time I noticed her long legs and the way her eyes sparkled when she laughed, but the one thing that ruined her for me was that she was currently laughing it up with Randal. Her arms were wrapped around his neck as they swayed to the music and she was smiling as he whispered something in her ear. As much as I wanted to leave and spare myself from having to take in that image for the remainder of the evening, something told me to stay because she would need me later. Until then I decided to entertain myself and string AJ along a little longer. Turning to her I gave her the panty dropping smirk and she stopped everything, her cheeks blushing red.

"April, would you like to dance?" She shook her head to collect her thoughts.

"Ahh…I'm not very good, but…"

"No big deal, just follow me…" I took her hand and proceeded to drag her onto the dance floor. When I was satisfied with my view point of Sara, I pulled her close as she rested her head on my chest. I knew it was cruel to string AJ along, but she was the best chance I had at getting closer to Sara. I never went out, the whole roster knew that; the bar scene just wasn't my thing. I didn't drink, I didn't dance and the worst thing was taking care of my drunken co-workers at the end of the night, but I took one for the team. As the music came to a stop, I watched Randy whisper something into Sara's ear and she nodded as they headed outside.

"Damnit…" AJ looked up at me with a look of confusion on her face.

"Is there something wrong Punk? Did I do something?" I shook my head feeling torn with what to do. If I went outside right now I was basically admitting I had a thing for Sara, but if I stayed I was risking losing track of Sara. I knew how Orton could be and something told me to stay close to her, she'd need me by the end of the night.

"No…ahh…I'm going to get some air, I'll be back…" I knew AJ was confused with how I was acting, but I didn't really care. I had to make sure Sara was okay, it was my job to protect her even if she didn't see it that way.

* * *

**Sara's POV**

Randy had taken my hand and we'd gone outside to get some air. Sitting down on a bench it only took me a minute to cool off before the chill of fall set in. It didn't last long though as I felt Randy wrap his arm around me. It could have been the alcohol, or maybe just the excitement of the evening, but I felt content where I was. Just like he had earlier in the park, just one touch from Randy made me feel safe and brought back a sense of self that I thought I'd lost.

"I'm glad you came out tonight; how hard was it to convince Punk to stay?"

"Actually it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I mentioned it to him earlier this afternoon, he said he'd think about it and told me on the way to the arena that we were staying. I was surprised to see him with AJ though; I thought she irritated the hell out of him. She's a nice girl, but even I know she's borderline obsessed with him!"

"She's wrapped up in him, thus his ego becomes bigger, so AJ is right up Punk's alley. Besides that they're both geeks with their damn comic books. I've never seen two people who need to grow up more then them!" Even though Randy was speaking the truth, I still felt bad for him bashing Punk. If it wasn't for Punk having a change of heart I wouldn't be having such a great night with a great guy. Even though it was a weird time to do it, I started thinking of ways I could repay him. I needed a night out and I suspected he did as well, but I pushed the thought away wanting to go back inside.

"Anyway, are you ready to go back in?"

"I was hoping we'd head back to the hotel…" The look in his eyes gave me a feeling that he wanted more then just a good night kiss and I wasn't that kind of girl. I was just getting to know Randy, and while I liked everything up to this point, I hoped he wouldn't ruin it by pressuring me to sleep with him.

"Oh…I was kind of hoping we could have a few more drinks, maybe dance a little bit more. I haven't been out in ages and who knows when I'll be out again…please Randy…" I smiled looking into his steel blue eyes and noticed him sigh. I figured this was the end, he wasn't getting what he wanted, so goodbye Sara, but with a smirk he took my hand and we walked back inside.

After two more martinis, I was surprised to find myself stumbling. Granted I hadn't drank in a long time, but still my tolerance was higher then five drinks. I sat in a booth next to Randy and knew he was whispering in my ear, but I couldn't comprehend anything he was saying. At one point he excused himself and I sat there struggling to keep my eyes open. Punk appeared out of nowhere and took Randy's vacant seat causing me to roll my eyes. The last thing I wanted or needed was a lecture from him.

* * *

**Punk's POV**

"Sara…hey…are you okay?"

"I'm fine…" Her words were slurred and I was reassured of why I had stayed. Something wasn't right though, she wasn't acting like a normal drunk, seeing she was practically out of it, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.

"Sara you might think you're fine, but you're far from it. How much have you had to drink tonight?"

"What do you care…you're just going to lecture me about how alcohol is bad…I think it's good, makes me feel…" Her eyes were closing, rolling around and I knew something was wrong. The color drained from her face before she opened her eyes and looked at me again.

"Sara, hey…" I snapped my fingers trying to keep her attention, "listen, I'm going to take you back to the hotel, but I need you to stay awake for me. Can you do that?" She nodded her head even though I had the feeling that she didn't understand a word I said.

"I feel sick…"

"Okay, well let's get you outside so you can get some air and get you home." I got up and held out my hands for her to take, but as soon as her feet touched the floor, her knees buckled. I caught her before she crumpled to the ground and picked her up carrying her to the car. Her body was limp and I debated taking her to the hospital instead of the hotel, but she started to come to as I laid her in the backseat. Hurrying to the driver's seat, I moved the rearview mirror so that I had a clear visual of her and started for the hotel.

When we arrived, I got her out of the car and once again carried her inside. It dawned on me that I didn't have her room key, but at the same time I figured it was probably for the best that she stay with someone. It was a struggle to hold Sara and open the door, but I managed. I laid her in my bed before removing her shoes and debated changing her out of the tight dress she was wearing, but decided not to. The last thing I needed was for her to wake up the tomorrow in one of my shirts and think that I took advantage of her. As much as I wanted Sara to myself, this wasn't the right time or situation.

Once I knew she was okay, I walked out onto the balcony and sat down putting my head in my hands. That son of a bitch had done this to her and I wanted to know why. If he liked her so much, then why would he do such a horrible thing? Sara was more then just a quick fuck; she deserved to be worshipped, to be the center of someone's world, which is exactly what she felt like for me sometimes. I took a few deep breaths before going back inside to get ready for bed.

After grabbing a quick shower and throwing on my shorts, I stood at the foot of the bed and just watched her sleep. She was beautiful, every inch of her, and here I was treating her like crap hoping that she'd look past me being an asshole and see that I wanted to be with her. I rubbed my hands over my head and made the decision that it had to stop; yes I wanted to push her and make her better professionally, but I also wanted to love her.

I pushed back the covers and laid beside her as I stared at the ceiling continuing to think. My thinking was interrupted as Sara rolled over and rested her head on my chest. I wasn't sure what to do, but decided to go with it. Tonight could have ended badly, with Sara getting hurt in the long run. Even now it was possible she could end up hurt, but I'd be there to pick up the pieces.

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**Didn't see that coming did you :) Hope you liked the little twist...more to come soon...Thanks for reading and please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Short chapter, but it's a follow up letting us know how Sara is doing...**

**Thanks so much for all the new adds/favorites and reviews I got from the last chapter...it was quite a twist, don't worry there's more to come :) An early Happy Birthday to WWE'sFinestDiva2012 (formerly known as futureWWEdiva2011)...Enjoy!**

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**Sara's POV**

I woke up Saturday morning with a splitting headache unsure of where I was or how I'd gotten there. I sat up slowly taking a few deep breaths so that the room would stop spinning and rubbed my temples trying to remember something, anything, when I was interrupted by the loud sound of a door closing causing me to flinch. I looked up to see Punk standing there with two cups of coffee and a bag.

"Why are you in my room? How did you even get in here?" Punk raised his eyebrow setting the coffee on the side table and sitting down on the bed.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Everything was still fuzzy and as I looked around the room I realized it wasn't mine.

"No…oh my God, this is your room, we didn't…did we?" I was horrified with myself feeling hot tears come to my eyes, my hands moved to cover my face. I wasn't that kind of girl, and with all the men in the world, I had slept with Punk. I felt Punk's hand on mine and I reluctantly lowered my hands, but didn't look at him.

"Sara nothing happened between us. Last night at the bar you were really out of it and I hate to say this, but I think someone tampered with your drink." I looked up at him and shook my head in disbelief, there was no way.

"That's not possible; I'm not stupid, I always keep my drink within site, there's no way that anyone could have…" I noticed Punk turn his gaze to the floor and I wondered if he suspected something. "Do you know something about this?"

"I can't be sure and I don't want to throw around allegations, but I suspect…"

"You suspect who?" Punk kept his gaze down, so I moved beside him taking a chance and resting my hand on his. "Please Phil, tell me who you think did this…"

"Randy…" I took my hand back and got up off the bed. I stared at him in astonishment; here he was accusing Randy, who has never been anything but kind to me, that he'd drugged me in hopes of getting lucky.

"You are unbelievable! Granted I'm just getting to know Randy, but he wouldn't do that to me…" Punk stood up staring me down; I could tell he was angry that I was calling him a liar, but I always called them as I saw them.

"Don't be so stupid Sara! Randy was getting your drinks and bringing them to you, he had ample time to slip something in it. You're in such denial, but you seemed pretty uncomfortable when you were outside and he was talking about coming back here. You knew all he wanted was sex; everyone knows it, that's how he works!"

"You were spying on me outside?"

"Not exactly…I needed some air and I overheard your conversation."

"I'm sure you just conveniently overheard…let me tell you something Phil Brooks, I don't need you or any other man to look after me! I've been on my own for a few years now and I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Well that's funny because you don't act that way…"

"What is your problem?"

"My problem is you! Last night you could have been seriously hurt by Orton or some other creep, but I was looking out for you! I'm the one who saved you from a bad situation and instead of a thank you that I deserve, you're being a bitch!"

"I'm being a bitch; well it's my only defense against you because you're always an asshole. I don't understand you Phil; I honestly think you hate me because you're always a prick. You have nothing nice to say ever, and in the rare chance you do you follow it up with an insult. You need to stop acting like my keeper; it's getting so bad that Randy actually asked if you were okay with the two of us going out…actually said you had a thing to me which made me laugh pretty hard…" Punk was quiet and I felt a sense of relief; I'd finally stood up to him and possibly silenced the idiot. I turned my back to him grabbing my shoes so that I could leave, when he said something I never expected.

"Is that hilarious to you; the idea of me actually liking you?" I turned around to look at him and was surprised that he was only a few steps away. There was hurt and anger in his eyes and I wondered what he was going to do.

"What?"

"Is that funny to you…the idea that I like you, that I want to be with you…I know I'm an asshole, but I do it for your benefit. If you're going to last in this business you need a tough skin and the ability to stand up for yourself…I've been waiting for months for you to snap and I'm glad to see it finally happen…" I noticed the smirk playing on his lips and wasn't sure where this was going, but as he closed the gap between us, backing me into the wall, I went numb. All I could do was stare into his hazel eyes and fall under his spell. I felt his breath on my lips as mine hitched in my throat. I'd never been so frightened, turned on and confused in my life. Before anything happened, he backed away going into the bathroom and leaving me breathless and at a loss for words.

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**Not a long chapter, but it's something...heading to an Indy wrestling show this weekend, get to see Cabana wrestle *yeah* so an update won't come until sometime next week...please review :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Another short chapter, but I figured I'd put it out there anyway...I'm currently working on something longer, but I'm not sure when I'll get it done and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting :) **

**My weekend was pretty awesome, besides getting lost in New Jersey, things were great...we got the chance to sit in on a live podcast run by a friend of ours (Future Endeavors) and met Jerry Lynn and the fabulous Colt Cabana :) I also added to my wrestling/comic book T-shirt collection with a 'Colt of Personality' shirt...You guys can listen to the interview w/ Colt, it'll be on tonight at 11PM (eastern time) at .com, just click on Future Endeavors...it'll also be posted on iTunes tomorrow for your listening pleasure...**

**Apologies for the plug, but I'm a podcast geek and I love the three guys that do Future Endeavors, it's a great one stop shop for your wrestling and MMA news :)**

**Anyway...thanks for all the new reviews/adds/favorites...plan is to bring you more as soon as I can...also attempting to work out a Punk/Gabby sequel (for Whatever Happens fans) but I haven't nailed out a story idea yet, so don't get too psyched...in the meantime, enjoy chapter 6!**

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**Punk's POV**

I sat on the corner of the tub shaking my head. What the hell just happened? I had her right there, right where I always wanted her; my lips inches from hers and I backed away. It didn't help that I had no idea what she was thinking, as much as she looked like she wanted me to proceed, I noticed she was shaking, probably from fear. That alone made me feel awful; this woman that I wanted was afraid of me and I had only myself to blame. Letting out a deep sigh, I heard the door close signaling she'd left, but even I knew she had nowhere to go. I'd found her purse in the back of the car, but things had gotten heated and out of control before I could return it to her; it held both her room key and her ID, so she couldn't even get a duplicate key. I couldn't help but smile a little bit thinking about how I was going to save her again, but was unfortunately reminded there was still a man in my way.

* * *

**Sara's POV**

It took me a few minutes to gather my thoughts before I finally left Punk's room, but after the door closed I realized I was even more screwed because I didn't have a clue where my purse was. I debated knocking on Punk's door again to see if he knew where my bag was, but with everything that had just happened, I thought it was best to keep my distance. Instead I decided to go another option heading for the elevator.

I knocked on Randy's door twice before he opened it and surprised me pulling me into his arms.

"Oh my God Sara, thank God you're okay. What the hell happened last night? I went to tell the others I was taking you home and I came back and you were gone. I've called and texted you almost a hundred times, why didn't you answer? Are you okay?" Randy finally loosened his tight embrace and I stepped back giving him a small smile and a nod. As much as I wanted to trust him, Punk's suspicion was fresh in my mind.

"I'm okay...Punk came over to check on me and I guess I was really out of it, so he brought me back here. He thinks someone put something in my drink..."

"What? How would that have happened?" I shrugged dropping my gaze to the floor. "Sara you don't think I did anything, do you?" I shook my head though deep down I didn't know what to think. Randy had insinuated having sex earlier in the night and I didn't know him well. He was the only one with access to my drinks, maybe it was possible...

"I don't know who did it, but what I do know is my purse is missing. It has my room key and ID in it, so I can't even get a duplicate. I was just curious if you had any ideas as to what I could do..." I looked up expecting his steel blue eyes to be full of anger and frustration seeing I hadn't denied the allegations, but surprisingly they weren't. They were warm and kind, a smile on his face.

"I think I can help you out..." I felt relieved giving him a smile in return.

* * *

**Punk's POV**

After taking care of a few things I went on the hunt for Sara to return her purse and apologize for how I acted. Even though how I felt was real, it was clear she wasn't ready for that.

It didn't take much looking as I opened my door and watched her and Randy get off the elevator, a smile on both of their faces. Anger coursed through my veins realizing that this jerk had drugged her last night, yet today he was her hero. She still hadn't even thanked me for saving her ass from possible date rape or death; maybe I didn't know the real Sara. I cleared my throat and it grabbed their attention; smirking I thought of a way to drive a wedge between them.

"Hey, ah you left this in my room this morning..." I handed Sara her purse, which she took clearly feeling awkward.

"Thank you..."

"About what I said to you, I apologize. I didn't mean to cause tension, but last night I was worried about you."

"Well I think I would have been okay, but thank you for making sure." I hadn't expected her reaction and for once I was caught off guard.

"Anyway, I figured I'd give you the chance to get cleaned up and packed. We'll head out around noon, is that okay with you?" She hesitated for a minute and I knew it was going to be bad.

"Actually I'm going to travel with Randy, but I'll see you later; travel safe." She made a shitty attempt to give me a small smile and it took everything I had not to grit my teeth when I noticed the smirk on Randy's face as he followed her inside her room. I walked down the hall and kicked over a potted plant, which did nothing to calm my anger. I wasn't ready to walk away from her and let him win; not by a long shot.

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**Sara has been pushed even closer to Randy and Punk does not like it...stay tuned to see if Sara thinks twice about Punk, or if she shrugs him off and starts a life with Randy...**


	7. Chapter 7

**My bad, it's been a while since I've updated, but I've been crazy busy and haven't had as much time to devote to writing as I'd like :/ The upside is I had all afternoon to whip up something, so I figured I'd 'Feed you More' ;) (I couldn't help myself)...**

**Thanks so much for the continuous adds/reviews and favorites, I appreciate each one :) Enjoy chapter 7!**

* * *

It wasn't easy standing up to Punk, but the idea of spending four hours in a car with him after the awkward confrontation we'd already been through, just didn't seem like a good idea. Besides that I really wanted to get to know Randy better. Despite everything, I believed that he was looking out for my best interest; he'd dropped everything to help me get a new room key and I could tell by his response that he was concerned by my disappearance from the bar.

The car ride was a good one, something that I wasn't used to. We carried on a conversation about anything and everything and it honestly felt good to have someone interested in what I had to say. Randy wasn't sighing or rolling his eyes like Punk always did, which was foreign to me, but it was nice. Our conversation died down a little as Randy stopped to get gas and I checked my phone surprised to see a text from Punk.

_Let me know when you get to the arena, we need to go over what's happening tonight.-Phil_

I wasn't sure how to take the text because even though we worked together, we almost never discussed work. He expected that I knew what I was doing and just went out and did it, and then he'd complain about my shortcomings later. I hesitated and before I could say anything, Randy startled me by shutting the car door. He noticed me jump and placed his big, warm hand on my thigh.

"Hey, are you okay?" Pushing a piece of hair behind my ear, I looked at him attempting a confident smile, but could tell he wasn't buying it. "What happened?"

"It's nothing; I was just caught by surprise that's all…" Randy raised an eyebrow realizing my phone in my hand and before I thought to put it back in my purse, he let out a sigh; clearly he'd read the text and was annoyed.

"Do you think he really wants to talk about tonight, or do you think he's going to find another reason to harass you?" I bit my lip regretting telling Randy about what had happened that morning, but even I knew I was a horrible liar and he could see I was shook up, there wasn't much of a choice.

"It's probably nothing; you know Punk he's trying to get under my skin. I'm a big girl, I can handle him." Randy nodded as he pulled out of the gas station heading back towards the highway. He was quiet for a few minutes, but brought up something I'd been contemplating since he first mentioned it.

"Are you going to talk to Vince about pulling you from this storyline? You can't let Punk keep pushing you around; you deserve better then this." I shrugged knowing he was right, but I also remembered Punk saying there was nothing else for me.

"I'm not disagreeing with you, but right now there's not a lot going on with the diva's division. Word is there's not even a storyline in the works…"

"Who told you that?" I thought about telling Randy what Punk said, but seeing he was already irritated with him, I thought against it.

"It's the latest talk throughout the locker room…"

"Well I don't know who started the 'latest talk', but it's not the case. I've actually heard they're looking for someone to feud with Kaitlyn. The fans responded really well to her feud with Eve and the whole Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding knock off storyline, and they want to push her even more. I think you'd be great for the role, but you won't be considered unless you talk to Vince and Stephanie."

"I thought they were putting Beth into that…"

"Beth is out; she asked for her release earlier this month and is wrestling her last match next month. Now is your chance Sara, you need to take it…"

"Beth is leaving; how did I not know this? Oh yeah probably because I talk to three people in the locker room…I really need to change that because I'm sure I come off as an anti-social bitch."

"You don't come off that way at all. Honestly a lot of people don't talk to you because they think you're with Punk; he has quite the reputation as an asshole, so people steer clear of him and anyone who associates with him."

"I see…that actually makes a lot of sense. Maybe I should think about talking to Vince, I mean it couldn't hurt anything right?" Randy nodded giving me a small smile while giving my thigh a slight squeeze. I blushed a little reacting from his touch, but I couldn't deny I liked it. Putting how I felt aside, I spent the rest of the trip thinking about what I wanted to do. Granted I wanted nothing more then to be on my own, and getting a feud against Kaitlyn would be nothing less then amazing, but I wasn't sure I was ready for it. Every time I trained with Punk he would critique me and he always said I wasn't ready, I needed to work harder, train harder and lose a few pounds. I started to feel angry thinking about our last training session, and finally decided what I needed to do. Getting out my phone I texted Punk back.

_I should be there in an hour…we definitely need to talk, but not just about tonight-Sara_

* * *

I'd waited in my locker room for Sara for almost an hour, my frustration rising with every additional minute I had to wait. Deciding to do something other then pace, I put on my headphones and went looking for an empty hallway to stretch.

Twenty minutes later, I was in full warm up mode, Bouncing Souls pumping in my ears, as I jumped on an off a crate prepping for my main event Raw match against John Cena. I had just started my last set when I felt someone touch my shoulder; it startled me to the point where I started to fall backwards, but grabbed the wall to regain my balance. Looking to see who was interrupting me, I saw Sara, but she was dressed in her wrestling gear and not her usual valet attire. Moving the headphones to my neck, I couldn't help but take in how she looked. Her chest was the first thing I noticed, and as much as I didn't want to stare, I couldn't ignore the cleavage on display. Stepping off the crate, I took in the rest of her noticing her toned stomach, curvy hips and the perfect glow of her skin. She looked exactly as she did in my dreams, completely flawless.

"Hey, I waited for you in the locker room, but got a little antsy; figured you'd know where to find me." I noticed the trace of a smile as she bit her lip, pushing her long brown hair that had been curled at the end out of her face, which had been dusted with the smallest amount of make-up, just enough to make her bright blue eyes shine even more.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't come talk to you as soon as I got here, but I had something else I needed to take care of…"

"As long as that something wasn't getting Orton off, then I think I can forgive you for making me wait." Her mouth dropped open and I could tell she was slightly offended, but she cleared her throat and carried on.

"Actually I went to talk to Vince and Stephanie…" I hadn't seen this coming as I sat down on my jumping crate allowing her to have the floor.

"About what? If this is about this morning, I'm sorry, really, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable…and maybe I jumped to conclusions about Randy spiking your drink, but last night was a scary situation and I went into rescue mode. I would've done that for any woman, by no means was it just for you." She pursed her lips while crossing her arms and nodding. I couldn't read her for once, but that was probably because I was too distracted staring at tits and trying not to get caught.

"Last night is in the past, but I do owe you an apology as well. I shouldn't have overreacted like that. You've been here for a while, you know how people can be and I'm still a little naive. Regardless of last night or this morning, I want you to know that I respect you and our partnership. I've learned a lot from you over the past few months and I hope that at some point in the future we can work together…we might not have always seen eye to eye, but you taught me a lot both in and out of the ring." I noticed her past tense references and felt myself begin to panic. As much as I let on that I wanted our storyline to end, I wasn't ready to let her go yet.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm out Punk…I talked to Vince and Stephanie and our storyline is ending tonight. I'm branching out on my own; I'll be working with Kaitlyn." I never expected her to have the balls to talk to Vince, especially after I'd planted the idea that there was nothing going on in the divas division, but it was a done deal and I knew Orton was the biggest influence on it.

"So this is it then? Do you really think you're ready to be on your own?"

"Well there's only one way to find out…Stephanie and Vince had their reservations at first too, but they don't have much of a choice. The division is dwindling now that Kelly has left and Beth is out next month, so they need a fresh face and I have the most experience. I know I have a lot of people to impress, but I'm up for the challenge…" I nodded grabbing my headphones and putting them back on my ears.

"Well good for you…best of luck with that and maybe I'll see you around, maybe I won't. Now if you'll excuse me I have a main event to get ready for and you should probably get ready too." She stood there for another minute or two as I started to stretch out my legs again, but I avoided eye contact. After she walked away, I sat down and ran my hand over my head. I'd blown it, my only chance of getting to know her better and it was gone. As much as it sucked, I needed to move on, she wasn't my problem anymore, and she'd clearly picked who she wanted to be with. The only thing I could do was focus on becoming the WWE champion again; I smiled to myself thinking maybe an ugly spinning diamond encrusted title would get her attention away from the viper.

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**Will Punk really give up that easy? I plan on working on this story a little more tonight and some more this weekend...keep reviewing, it pushes me to write more!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I owe you guys a long update, I know this, and I swear I'll get one, but life is kind of disrupting my writing, especially now that the holidays have arrived...I had to post something though b/c it's been way too long, so I whipped this up and hopefully this weekend I'll get a chance to do more...**

**Thanks for all the new adds, favorites and reviews...they keep my going, I know I always say this, but it's true...refreshes the creative juices that sometimes get burned out, and being a teacher uses up a lot of creative juices! haha**

**I hope you enjoy, and I promise chapter 9 will be worth the wait and I'll make it a long, juicy one :D**

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Two months had gone by and both my career and personal life were flourishing. My feud with Kaitlyn had gotten more buzz the expected and had officially gotten the extra push it needed. Our matches were getting more air time and we both had got our full entrances on TV; something that was very uncommon with the divas division in the newly tagged PG Era. When I wasn't working out or doing press, Randy was the main focus in my life. Our relationship was progressing and we spent all of our spare time together, which wasn't as much as either of us would like, but we made do. Plans were made for after our upcoming show in St. Louis for me to finally meet his daughter Alana, which made me extremely nervous. I wasn't sure our relationship was ready for that, in my eyes when kids are brought in the picture there's no looking back, but Randy assured me that Alana was prepared and I'd be greeted with a warm reception.

I hadn't spoken to Punk since our storyline ended. After our discussion in the hallway, I walked him to the ring for our last match together. The end of the match called for Punk to lose, him to confront me and for me to finally snap. It should've been easy, taking out all of my aggression, frustration and anger that I'd harbored over him for several months with one sharp slap to the cheek, but the look in his eyes haunted me. Punk was always so serious, sometimes it was hard to tell if he was acting as CM Punk or Phil Brooks, but on that night I saw the hurt in his eyes. At the end of the match, he grabbed a mic, called me into the center and started his usual berating, but for once I could see he didn't mean any of it, where usually that was hard to determine. As I raised my hand to meet his cheek, I almost hesitated not wanting to bring on more hurt, but it's what creative wanted, so it's what I had to do. I felt the sting of my hand meeting his cheek and left the ring avoiding his gaze.

Tonight was a big night; for the first time in my career I was getting a match for the diva's title, something I'd pined over since the first day I walked into the company. I felt jittery as I stretched in the hallway going over the big spots in my head; if this match went down as planned, the diva's division would officially be important again. We were closing out the first hour of Raw, given a solid fifteen minutes to put on a show, this had to work. Interference by Kaitlyn would end in a disqualification, but it would lead to a triple threat match at TLC with Kaitlyn and Eve. The pressure was stacked, but perhaps the biggest part of it was I was bringing back the coveted moonsault as my finisher. The butterflies were in full effect as I headed toward gorilla; this match could make or break my career, there was no plan B. At 8:50, Shiny Toy Guns "Le Disko" hit and I walked through the curtain to the cheers of the crowd.

* * *

I was sitting backstage in St. Louis with my knee propped up. Despite recent surgery, I was still on the road doing promo work with Paul whenever needed. My original plan was to head home after my kick off promo, but upon finding out Sara was getting a title shot I stayed. We hadn't talked since our storyline ended, more my choice then hers. Though my original plan was to do everything in my power to get her attention, I noticed she was genuinely happy with Orton, though I still couldn't understand what she saw in him. I'd backed off, no use in bringing on more problems for myself and besides that I had other things to focus on as the new champ.

The match started out at a quick pace, something that hadn't been seen from the divas since Beth and Natty had wrestled months before. There was a lot of technical stuff and I was impressed; clearly Sara had been practicing since our sessions ended. She was much sharper and had added new moves to her repertoire, and I pushed the thought of her taking direction from Randy out of my head. After a series of attempted pin falls, Sara got back on the defense hitting Eve with a series of hard lefts. With Eve lying on the mat, Sara motioned towards the top rope. I knew from her take off she'd never land right, but hoped I was wrong. Sure enough, she landed awkwardly and I got up as quickly as I could despite my knee brace.

"Where the hell are you going?" I ignored Paul's question heading straight for the trainer's room.


	9. Chapter 9

**Shame on me, it's been way too long since my last update and I'm very sad, but with the holidays comes longer work days, shopping, decorating, wrapping, parties...yeah the ridiculous list goes on! However, I attended the Live Smackdown Tuesday, also got treated to the Raw taping for Christmas Eve (some good stuff on there :D) and told myself I HAD to update before the end of the week, so here I am :) Upside is I have a 4 day weekend thanks to the holidays coming up, so I'm hoping I'll get some quality writing time in and I'll be able to post a Christmas update...fingers crossed!**

**This chapter we find out what's up with Sara and just how bad her injury is...thanks for all the reviews/favorites/adds...Enjoy!**

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Standing on the top rope Punk's words replayed in my head; I wasn't ready for this. I hadn't practiced enough, but this match was counting on my performance; I had to throw this moonsault. In mid-flip I lost track of where I was and knew instantly I was in trouble. I ignored the pain trying to get through the rest of the match, but knew I was blowing it when Kaitlyn was sent in early, the EMTs coming down the ramp as the show went to commercial. My arm felt like it was detached from my body as I held it close to my chest trying to get up.

The trip from the ring to the trainer's room was a blur, but I tried my best to stay calm. I knew freaking out would make everything worse, but the pain in my right arm was excruciating. I reluctantly let Dr. Tom examine my injury afraid of what the damage was.

"Well it's definitely out of place. We need to get you to the hospital and have everything checked out, make sure there aren't any tears or breaks on top of the dislocation." I let out a sigh. I hated hospitals, granted I didn't know anyone who did like them, but good news never came from a hospital visit.

"Alright, but can Randy take me? I really don't want to ride in the ambulance, especially seeing this was my fault. I wasn't ready for that finisher, but I went against what I've been told and what my own head was saying and just did it."

"Well hopefully now you've learned your lesson. If you're not one hundred percent comfortable with moves, then don't do them. It's better to improvise and risk being told about it, then to end up in the condition you're in now. You'll probably be out at least two weeks."

"Two weeks? I'll miss the TLC pay per view!"

"That's true kid, but you need the time off to rest up; if you come back before recommended it won't do you any good." I let out another sigh feeling like crying for the first time feeling everything I'd worked for slipping away. Dr. Tom could see I was getting emotional and left me alone to find Randy. I sat alone on the exam table, once again holding my arm to my chest, hot tears beginning to slide down my cheeks, when the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted my self pity. I quickly wiped the tears away before scoffing seeing none other then CM Punk before me.

"Did you come to say I told you so?" His lips fell into the signature smirk and I felt a little flutter in my stomach, but ignored it. There's no way I had feelings for him; he'd been an ass for the duration that we worked together and ever since our storyline had ended he'd ignored me like the plague. Clearly he was only standing in front of me now to rub in my face that I wasn't as good as I thought I was.

"You would think that, but I actually wanted to see if you were okay, that was a nasty landing. You probably won't believe this, but for the first time I was hoping I was wrong about that moonsault; I didn't like being right." I looked at him unsure if I was hearing him correctly; was Phil Brooks being genuine, or just trying to get me to play into his mind game?

"Well I'm out for at least two weeks, so no pay per view for me."

"Makes two of us…as much as I'm ready to get back in the game, I got word from the front office today that I'm sitting this one out. They want me to be one hundred percent for the Rumble, I'm not happy about it though."

"I'm not happy either, but Dr. Tom knows what he's talking about. It doesn't help that when I screw up, I screw up big; suffered at least a dislocation, possibly more, I'll know more after a trip to the hospital."

"Hospital? Ahh…I hate that place, there's never good news coming from a hospital." I smiled a little as Punk sat next to me.

"Funny, I was thinking the exact thing. I should've never thrown that moonsault; I knew the minute I hit the top rope I wasn't ready for it. Your voice was in my head and my own body was telling me no, but I didn't listen."

"It happens…some times you need an injury to knock you down; remind you you're not immortal. If I would've pushed you a little more then you would have perfected your finisher and none of this would have happened. I'm sorry I let you down Sara…"

"Don't apologize, this isn't your fault. When you were training me I wasn't exactly the best at taking your criticism. I kind of convinced myself that I knew everything, that I didn't need your help, and clearly that was wrong. If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me. I was kind of a pain in the ass…"

"Kind of?" Punk let out a laugh and I reluctantly joined in.

"Okay I was a major pain in the ass, but you weren't much better." Punk was quiet for a minute and I regretted bringing it up. "I'm sorry Phil, I didn't mean..."

"No you have every right to feel that way. I owe you a really big apology Sara because I was a jerk, but there was a reason for it..." I didn't understand what he was saying and searching his hazel eyes didn't help. The answer was right on the tip of his tongue, but before he could say it, we were interrupted.

"Sara are you..." I jumped slightly looking towards the door and finding Randy staring in our direction; he looked betrayed and based on the closeness between Punk and I, it wasn't hard to see what was bothering him. "What the hell is going on in here? What the fuck are you doing in here Punk? Don't you think you caused enough turmoil in Sara's life?" Punk slid off the table as Randy moved closer, thinking quickly I jumped between the two of them.

"Randy we need to go..." His steel blue eyes looked past me; I turned to look at Punk and noticed a similar glare being shot back at Randy. If I didn't move fast things were going to escalate and with all of us injured, that was the last thing anyone needed. "Randy!" I raised my voice finally gathering his attention getting him to glance in my direction. "Please let's just go...I need to get to the hospital and have things checked out; this isn't what you think it was."

"Then what is it exactly?" His full focus was on me and I noticed his clenched jaw, something he tended to do when he was angry.

"We'll discuss this later, please let's just go..." I watched as Randy sent one last warning glare in Punk's direction before taking my uninjured arm and pulling towards the door. Even though I knew I shouldn't, I couldn't resist taking one last glance at Punk. The tiny little flutter I'd felt earlier grew into a ball of fire in my stomach when I saw that smirk planted on his lips and I couldn't help but wonder what was happening to me.


	10. Chapter 10

**So I thought about holding off on posting this, maybe adding some more to it, but with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day upon us, I'll be crazy busy, so consider this a little gift to all of my fabulous readers :) Take note that there's a little dose of mature content towards the end of the chapter, my usual read between the lines, but figured I'd put it out there...**

**Thanks for the continued adds, favorites and reviews...so happy to have people read what I write and let me know just how much they enjoy it :D I have a few days off for the holidays, so I'm hoping to keep the updates flowing...until then enjoy and Happy Holidays :)**

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**Sara's POV:**

Randy was quiet for the ride to the hospital, the duration of the time we sat in the ER and the entire ride home. I knew he wanted an explanation, and though I'd promised him one, there was nothing to explain. Nothing had happened between Punk and I; it was just an incident of one colleague checking on another, nothing more, nothing less.

By the time we arrived back at the hotel, I was exhausted and in a lot of pain. All I wanted to do was go to my room, take a hot shower and go to bed, but something told me it was going to be a restless night. Randy walked me to my room, but stopped as I went to open the door.

"Sara we need to discuss a few things." I let out a sigh; I wasn't in the mood to do this.

"I don't think we need to discuss anything, but if you think we do, now is not the time. I'm exhausted and in a lot of pain…"

"You honestly don't think there's anything that needs discussed? I know what I saw; the way he was looking at you, and you were clearly buying into his act." I rolled my eyes feeling I'd already heard enough; what he was accusing me of was pure ludicrous.

"You know what Randy, maybe you and I need a break. Punk came to the trainer's room out of concern and at no point were we inappropriate. It was strictly business, and the fact that you think it was anything more shows that you don't trust me."

"Sara it's not that I don't trust you, it's him…" I held up my hand not wanting to hear another word; Randy had said enough, and the longer the conversation went on, the worse things were going to get.

"I don't want to hear it, you can think what you want, but it's not the case. Punk and I haven't even spoken in the last two months, so your little idea that we were flirting is just ridiculous and clearly you have some insecurities that you need to work on." His expression dropped and I could see there was something he wanted to say, but I pushed on not letting him interrupt. "Thank you for taking me to the hospital and staying there, but if you'll excuse me it's been a very long, emotional night and I need to get some sleep. If you're willing to drop all this, then call me tomorrow, but if not then don't bother; good night Randy." Before he could respond, I shut the door in his face. Normally I'd break down and cry over relationship woes, but right now that seemed to be the least of my worries. Besides my own injury, there was still the emotional turmoil of my dad's condition. He wasn't doing well; the doctors explaining there wasn't much else they could do. My mother told me not to come home, but I couldn't help but worry I wouldn't get the chance to say goodbye.

Taking a deep breath, I shook the thought from my mind wanting to focus on relaxing for the night. It was already past 2AM, and as much as I just wanted to crawl into bed, I was still wearing my wrestling gear from earlier in the evening. Walking into the bathroom, I regretted not letting Randy in because I had no idea how I was going to get undressed with only one good arm. Letting out a deep sigh, I heard a knock at the door and thought just maybe the Viper was about to man up and apologize for his accusations, but upon opening the door I found the other half involved in a supposed guilty party.

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**Punk's POV:**

I didn't plan on hitting up Sara after our friendly chat in the trainer's room, but some late night insomnia and an ice run made me change my mind. Despite what Randy thought I wasn't hitting on Sara, or trying to cause problems in their relationship. As far as I was concerned I was over her, she'd moved on and I'd started seeing Amy again, but watching her fall, landing awkwardly and yelling out in pain, something inside of me told me to go to her, make sure she was okay. I never intended to cause problems, but I also never intended to feel breathless when I saw her. Being around Sara always gave me an odd sensation of having the wind knocked out of me, which I'd never felt before; as hard as I tried to deny it, the feeling repeated every time I got close to her. I'd heard Randy's accusations, which were clearly asinine, but I was happy to see Sara stand up for herself and not let him walk all over her; clearly she had learned something from her experience with me.

I stood outside Sara's room for almost five minutes debating if I wanted to open this can of worms that surely was going to develop, but at the same time I figured she'd need some help seeing I knew from experience it's not easy getting undressed with only one good arm. Knocking on the door I waited less then a minute before she opened it, still dressed in her wrestling gear from earlier in the night and looking very surprised to see me.

"Punk…what are you doing here?" I laughed a little wondering the same thing. What was I doing?

"Sorry to bother you, but I was in the hallway and saw you got back from the hospital. I wanted to see if you were okay and figured you might need some help." The look on her face was still one of surprise, like she would never expect me to do something so nice.

"Oh…well my shoulder was put back in place and the initial MRI shows everything is okay, but they're taking a second look tomorrow to make sure."

"Good, I'm glad to see someone get good news from a hospital for once." She smiled and I felt the kick in the gut leaving me feeling winded; what was it about her that drove me crazy like this? "Umm anyway, do you need help with anything, or maybe some ice?"

"Thanks, but I'll be okay…"

"Are you sure? I don't want to get all personal, but you're probably going to have some issue getting your gear off one handed." She sighed before letting out a little laugh.

"Yeah, I've been in the bathroom for a good five minutes trying to figure out how this was going to work…are you sure you don't mind?" Internally I relished at the idea of getting to touch her, even if it was just my fingertips grazing her back. It made me remember how soft her skin was and the faint smell of vanilla filled my senses.

"If you're comfortable, then I'm good to go. I've been there, dressing one handed is not fun and it's a bitch." Sara moved to the side letting me in the room before closing the door. Even though she had let me in, I could tell she was slightly anxious, so I tried my best to ease her mind. "So I can tell you're apprehensive, but I promise to keep my hands to myself and I won't check you out. Doing that would not only be extremely inappropriate, but we're also both in relationships, so nothing good would come of it." Sara let out a laugh placing her good hand on her hip.

"Well that's good to know, but you aren't the slightest bit curious to check out the goods?" I raised my eyebrows at her response feeling a sudden dryness in my throat. I wanted nothing more then to check her out in the flesh, but going there wasn't a good idea. Sara continued to laugh, "Punk I was kidding! Anyway, can you help me out here? If you can just get the zipper and the halter part then I should be able to take care of it from there." I nodded still unable to speak as she turned her back to me.

I moved her hair out of the way feeling the silky tendrils slip through my fingers and started to undo the buckle securing her top around her neck. I tried to keep my breathing steady so she didn't suspect that I was turned on in any way, but as my fingers drifted down her back to the zipper it was becoming harder, as was something else. The idea of pressing my lips to her bare flesh crossed my mind when her voice brought me back mid-unzip.

"So, do you want to watch a movie or something? As tired as I feel I already know I'm not going to get any sleep…"

"Uhh yeah, that sounds good. I'm just starting season two of The Walking Dead, are you up for it?"

"Really?" The question in her voice had me wondering if I'd just recommended the wrong thing. She was either seeing it as 'eww, zombies gross' or 'eww, zombies, awesome!' "I love that show and I missed a few episodes, so season two sounds like a plan. I let out a sigh of relief as the zipper came unhooked leaving her back exposed. The earlier breathless feeling returned full force and I wanted nothing more then to take her right there, make her forget all about Randy Orton. "So if you just want to grab my key, you can go get the movie and let yourself in. I shouldn't be longer then twenty minutes in the shower."

"Sounds great…" I turned grabbing the key and made it for the door before she could notice the erection that I was trying so hard to hide. I moved as quickly as I could down the hall to my room thankful that I was on the same floor and no longer on crutches, thus no one else witnessed the excessive, uncomfortable bulge in my pants. Without thinking, I stripped down and jumped in the shower. Within ten minutes I felt relief as I leaned against the wall of the shower panting and wondering what the hell had just come over me.


	11. Chapter 11

**Happy New Year everyone :) Kind of hard to believe that I've been writing again for a year, but I'm very happy I got back to it, now I just need to make more time for it!**

**Thanks so much for all the reviews last chapter, the number is getting higher, which I love to see, and it keeps the gears grinding...**

**I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year, I'll be staying in tonight bringing in the new year with some sexies in spandex ;) Enjoy!**

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**Sara's POV:**

My eyes opened a little before 8 and I moaned wishing I could close them again, but my shoulder was throbbing so I knew that was out of the question. In an effort to wake myself up, I rolled onto my back only to find a surprise next to me in the form of a still sleeping CM Punk. The surprise instantly woke me up as I shook my head; the only upside to this situation is I could remember everything that happened the night before and none of it involved sex.

I was out of the shower and dressed before Punk came back with the movie, which made me wonder just what took him so long. He was always so prompt when I was with him before, for him to take a half hour to walk down the hall and get a movie was unheard of, but I pushed it aside feeling grateful for the company. Once we were both comfortable and the movie was playing, I was surprised to find he was quiet for the most part, which really wasn't like him. For a brief moment I thought back to our uncomfortable confrontation, the one where he admitted his feelings and wondered if he still felt the same, but seeing he was rumored to be in a relationship with Amy Dumas, I figured that ship had sailed and it bothered me for some reason.

Laying in bed I knew I should get up and prepare for my day, but I felt the need to just lay there and watch Punk sleep. Part of me screamed that this was extremely creepy and weird, but another part felt content. I thought about the last two days and how he'd acted and felt a sense of sadness wondering why he couldn't have been like that when we worked together, it would've made things so much easier. I liked the friendly, caring Punk much better then the asshole I was accustomed to dealing with, but one thing was for certain, both were very attractive. My inappropriate staring was interrupted by a knock at the door, one that I ignored at first, until I heard a familiar voice.

"Sara, it's me Randy…If you're awake please answer the door…" I sat up, my eyes going wide as I looked from the person in my bed and thought about the person behind the door; what the hell was I going to do? I thought about just ignoring it, but that wasn't the most adult thing to do; plus the way Randy was he'd wait outside the door for as long as it took for me to open it, which meant there was no way in hell Punk was getting out unnoticed. I let out a sigh making a quick decision and going to the door. Taking a deep breath I opened it peeking my head out.

"Hey, I hope I didn't wake you, but I wanted to make sure you were okay." I nodded trying to remind myself to stay calm and quiet. The last thing I needed was for Randy to get suspicious or for Punk to wake up.

"I'm fine, a little sore, but the doctor said that would be expected." Randy nodded and I could tell there was something more he wanted to say; of course this wasn't going to end easily.

"There's something else…" Randy rubbed the back of his neck keeping his gaze on the floor.

"What's that?" I scolded myself for even asking.

"Well I was hoping I could come in and we could discuss things privately." I cringed on the inside. There was no way I could let him in, but what was I going to say.

"Actually Randy…" Before I could finish, I felt someone behind me and the door opened wider.

"Actually Randy she can't talk right now because we're going to grab some breakfast." The sound of Punk's voice made me want to bang my head off the door countless times. It was official, the nice, caring Phil Brooks was gone and the problem causing asshole was in his place. The look on Randy's face was one of death and I felt horrible knowing exactly what this looked like. Here I was trying to convince him there was nothing up and he comes to admit his mistake and finds the 'enemy' in my room.

"I guess I better not keep you any longer…" Randy turned to leave and I debated going after him, but in the end I knew it wouldn't do any good. He needed time to cool off and I needed time to figure out how I was going to explain this. Closing the door, I focused my gaze on Punk feeling extremely annoyed with what he'd just done and equally annoyed that he looked especially sexy first thing in the morning.

"Why would you do that?"

"Do what?" My calm and collected self was beginning to fade as he grated on my patience.

"You know what…he came down here to apologize and now he thinks we're sleeping together, thus he feels he was right all along." Punk crossed his arms and I instantly noticed how his shirt clung to his body. I shook it off wondering what was going on, clearly the pain meds were going to my head, yes that had to be it.

"Listen Sara, I apologize if I just messed things up for you two, but personally I think you're better off. Randy clearly doesn't trust you and that's a real problem after two months." I let out a sigh slouching down in a chair and admitting defeat. I hated that he was right, but he was; trust was the least of our issues, there had been other problems in the making.

"That's true, but I still don't want him thinking we slept together last night."

"But we did…" I rolled my eyes catching a glimpse of a smirk on his lips.

"You know what I mean, I'm not a cheater and I'm not easy. If Randy really wanted to he could spread this around the roster and that would ruin my reputation and your relationship." Punk kneeled in front of me taking my hands in his, which made that burning feeling in my stomach reignite. I bit my tongue so that I could focus on what he was saying rather then the feelings he was causing.

"First off I don't think you have anything to worry about. Randy is a tool yes, but he'll recover quickly, so don't worry about him. Also, even if people do see us together, who the hell cares? Let them talk, talk is nothing because we know the truth; same goes for my relationship, Amy knows I care about her and she trusts me, so this is not a big deal." I couldn't help but smile a little, which felt foreign, the fact that Phil Brooks was the person making me smile; usually he was the reason I was wiping away tears. "So anyway, can we go get breakfast because I'm starving…"

"Yeah…I think that's a good idea, but only if we can get it to go and come back and watch more Walking Dead. I gave into sleep as the hoard invaded the farm…"

"Ahh, you missed so much good stuff…I think a full on marathon is in order. Plus if zombies are your thing, I have some old school horror flicks if you're interested."

"I'm the youngest with three older brothers, so yes you're totally speaking my language. Give me a few minutes to freshen up and we can go."

"Actually I'm going to go change, meet you back here in twenty?" I nodded feeling more giddiness then I'd felt in a while.

"Great, just don't get lost like you did last night." Punk let out a nervous laugh as he got up to leave the room.

Once the door was closed, I went into the bathroom to analyze my appearance and felt mixed emotions. I was happy that Punk was around and being exceptionally nice; I always thought it would be fun to hang around with him when he wasn't in jerk mode. I felt equally guilty though feeling as if I was forgetting about the last two months with Randy, but I knew I needed to focus on me. Besides there was no guarantee things were really over between us; I still had every intention of explaining what had really happened with Punk and I. Maybe this little mishap would make our relationship better, or maybe this really was the end; regardless I wasn't going to let anyone walk all over me.

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**Are things really over with her and Randy? Honestly I haven't decided yet...I know what a lot of you want though :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**I hope everyone is having a fabulous first weekend of 2013 :) I've had extra time this week to work on this story and a few others that I've been neglecting as well as outlining new ones...the ideas are never ending, but I wish I could finish one thing before starting another!**

**Thanks for the reviews last chapter...a lot of Pro-Randy and a lot of Pro-Punk, pretty much right down the middle...this chapter will make some of you very happy and others not so happy, but no worries because nothing is ever set in stone in the fan fic world ;) Enjoy!**

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**Sara's POV:**

A week had gone by before I decided to bite the bullet and talk to Randy. He'd avoided me at every turn, and it probably didn't look well on my part that I was with Punk every time we encountered each other. I knew I looked guilty, but I wasn't so sure I cared. Randy was a good guy, he'd done a lot of things to help boost my self esteem, but he wanted more then I could give him and the trust issues alone were the beginning of the end. However, despite everything, I still wanted a friendship with him; if it became more down the line I was okay with that, but I wanted so badly to get back to where we'd started.

I took a deep breath as my hand rapped against his hotel room door listening intently for movement on the other side. After another knock and a minute of waiting, I declared he either wasn't there, or he didn't want to see me. Turning to walk away, the door opened and I witnessed Randy standing in just a towel, his chest still glistening with water. At that moment I wished there was a way to make the blush on my cheeks disappear, but seeing Randy in that way it was a natural reaction.

Randy crossed his arms over his chest and I could tell he wasn't in the mood to listen, but despite the distraction of his nakedness, I was dead set on explaining myself though I still didn't know why. "Are you lost Sara? Punk is in room 321, not 312…then again why am I telling you this, you already know what room he's in and what his bed feels like."

I'd had all intentions of having a calm conversation, an adult conversation, but with the accusations Randy threw out, my cool went with it. "That's not fair at all because you have no idea what is going on. I came here to talk to you and explain myself, but if you're going to act like a prick, then frankly Randy you can go fuck yourself. I'm sure you're used to that seeing you never got around to fucking me." The calm feeling was beginning to return to my body along with a sense of pride that I was standing up for myself. I fully expected Randy to shut the door and w+e'd go our separate ways, but surprisingly he took my hand leading me into his room.

I turned to face him, ready to voice my side of the story, but was taken back as his lips were forcefully pressed against mine. I was torn on what was happening; part of me wanted to push him away, slap him into next week and be done with it, while the other part noticed my hands wandering to the towel around his waist. In the end, the feelings of sexual need won out as I felt his erection press against me.

The cloudy feelings of want and need disappeared as I laid next to Randy twenty minutes later feeling nothing but regret. This wasn't what was supposed to happen, I was looking to go back to square one with him, start over, and instead everything had been complicated to the tenth degree. I needed someone to talk to, get some sort of advice to try to sort out the mess I'd just made. As Randy drifted off to sleep, I quickly got dressed and slipped out of the room. Pausing for a minute I wondered who I could talk to, but there weren't many options as I made my way to room 321.

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**Punk's POV:**

After another repetitive, pointless argument with Amy over the phone, I was tired and irritated, not in the mood for company. The plan was to call it a night, watch a bad horror movie or two and attempt to fall asleep, but just as I got comfortable there was a knock at the door; I ignored it until my phone vibrated. I saw it was Sara and she needed to talk and despite my anti-social mood, I thought maybe seeing her would help me feel a little better, so I let her in.

Just one look at her and I could tell I didn't want to hear anything she was about to say because it would only piss me off further. Against my strongly worded opinion, she'd gone to talk to Randy and try to explain that what he thought had gone on between us hadn't happened at all. I thought it was a waste of time, after all who gives a fuck what he thinks; clearly he didn't trust her, so there wasn't a point in reconciling their relationship. Besides I knew if Sara had any type of relationship with Randy that I'd be kicked to the curb and I wasn't willing to let that happen again. I liked getting to know her better, spending time with her; it gave me a reason to be close to her, which I hoped would eventually help our relationship blossom.

"I take it things didn't go well…" Sara was quiet as she sat on the edge of the bed just staring at her hands. I cautiously moved closer to her and noticed she was crying, "Sara, what happened? Did he hurt you?" She slowly shook her head as I kneeled in front of her trying to get a better read off her emotions. "Then what happened?"

"I'm such an idiot…" There were a number of things that could make her feel this way, a large number of which I didn't want to hear.

"Umm okay, can you be more specific? Better yet why don't you just start from the beginning?" I handed her a box of tissues before sitting beside her.

"Well he was a complete tool when he answered the door, running his mouth about you and I…"

"What about us? Forget that, did you explain there is no us?"

"I intended on doing that, but my temper got the best of me and threw it in his face that he should just go fuck himself, which he should be used to seeing he had never fucked me." I smirked not really seeing the bad in this situation. Any time that Orton was ribbed, nonetheless when a female was doing the ribbing, I got the last laugh. It just went to show he wasn't as great as he liked to think; he couldn't even seal the deal with a chick he'd been with for two months.

"Okay, well I don't see the bad in this situation. Actually I wish now that I would've gone with you and took photos of his reaction because I'm sure it was golden! Way to stand up for yourself Sara, show that prick you're not a doormat." I nudged her with my elbow, but didn't get any of the playfulness I expected to get in return, which confirmed my earlier suspicions. Something had gone wrong, something I wasn't so sure I wanted to know about.

"Punk…I fucked up…"

"Sara it can't be that bad, just tell me; clearly you need to talk about it." Sara looked at me, a fresh batch of tears forming in her eyes and I prepared myself for the worst hoping I could keep from losing my temper because that was the last thing she needed and it would ruin the relationship I'd worked so hard to build.

"I had sex with Randy…" It was just as I expected and it stung like hell. Knowing he'd crossed into precious territory, what I considered my territory. "I don't know why I let it happen, but I realized as soon as it was over just how stupid it was. I regret it more then I've ever regretted anything and I don't know what to do from here."

It wasn't easy telling her what I thought, but I knew she needed to hear it. "I think you need to talk things through, maybe see if you guys can work things out and try again."

Sara looked at me as if I'd grown a second head and I could understand why, what I was saying went against everything I'd ever said. "Are you feeling okay, because you just told me to try and work things out with Randy. You hate Randy and have been against me having any kind of relationship with him since day one. What the hell has gotten in to you?"

"I still feel that way and I'll never think he's good enough for you, but Sara you deserve to be happy and I know he's tried to do that. Just promise me that no matter what we'll still be friends because I like having you around, always have; I just haven't had the best way of showing it." Sara reached out wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me close. I closed my eyes and took in the familiar vanilla scent that I loved so much realizing that once again I was passing up the one I'd longed for, but maybe Randy was better for her. He probably wouldn't fuck things up the way I always did, plus I'd swore to Amy I wouldn't let my friendship with Sara become more important then my relationship with her; that promise was slowly deteriorating, thus the cause of our earlier argument.

"Punk you're such a great friend; thank you so much for everything. I don't know what I would do without you." I winced at the word friend, but figured I should just get used to it seeing that's all we'd ever be. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye taking in her small smile as she moved to kiss my cheek; the feelings of frustration mounted and my stupid advice came to mind as I decided to say fuck everything. At the last minute I moved feeling her soft lips against mine, a feeling I'd longed to feel for months.

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**Oh my...little Miss Sara has quite the predicament on her hands...**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello loves ;) Figured I'd throw an update your way, it's been a few days, and I was able to work on this story over the weekend...thanks so much for the continued support with the reviews, follows and favorites; love getting those e-mails :D Monday's Raw...wow! So happy to see the champ back wrestling in the ring and he didn't disappoint! I think Rocky has met his match on the mic, I also think he's a little rusty b/c I don't think Punk looks like a "crack head Popeye" and Cookie Puss is not his best insult...regardless the promo got me super hyped for the Royal Rumble and even more excited to see what the Road to Wrestlemania brings seeing yours truly will be in NJ for WM29! (88 days)**

**Enjoy...**

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**Sara's POV:**

_Let this be a lesson in showing affection when I'm grateful,_ should have been the thoughts going through my head as I felt Punk's lips on mine rather then his scruffy cheek that I was aiming for. Even though it surprised me and I should've pulled back immediately, I found myself wanting more. I felt Punk's hand on the back of my neck as he moved closer, my hands rested on his chest. My mind was so torn; a minute ago Punk was the one telling me to fix things with Randy and here he was engaging me in a make out session, the best I'd had in a long time. The only thing to pull me back to reality was the feel of his hand inching up the back of my shirt. I pulled away feeling breathless, my head a cloud of confusion.

"What's wrong?" I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and took a deep breath before facing him. Looking at him I wanted nothing more then to keep going, but I knew the whole thing was wrong. He was in a relationship and I'd already regretted having sex once that day, I didn't need to make it a second time.

"Phil we can't do this…what about Amy? Besides this isn't me; I'm not the kind of girl who just goes around having sex and kissing just anybody." I could tell he was angered by what I'd said and regretted my word choice; he wasn't just anybody, but at the same time he wasn't that someone either.

"I see how this is, Randy can do no wrong, but I'm just not good enough."

"Phil that isn't what I said and you know it…"

"You don't have to say it Sara, I already know it; hell I've known it for months. I don't get it, why won't you give me a chance?" My head started to spin as I attempted to shake it off not understanding what he was talking about.

"What do you mean give you a chance? You've never asked for one!"

"Bullshit! I've had feelings for you since the day we started working together and everyone has seen it but you. I laid everything out on the table after the club thing happened, yet you still chose him over me. It's funny that you felt the need to explain our friendship to Randy, yet you never explained anything about your relationship to me. I just want to know, what does he have that I don't?" I was stunned in that moment, unable to speak, completely torn on my feelings.

Randy was safety; I felt secure with him, he'd never said anything but kind words to me. Then there was Punk; I never knew how he was going to be with me, so the idea of entering into a relationship with him was insane. However there was always something that kept me drawn to him; maybe it was the fact that he'd call my bluff, unlike Randy who just let it go. Then there was the thought of sex. I was with Randy for two months and we'd barely engaged in foreplay; for a reason I couldn't explain I wanted to take things slow. It was the opposite with Punk; when he got too close I felt the need to just go for it without thinking.

Shaking the excess thoughts from my head, I looked at Punk again who was still awaiting an answer; one I couldn't give him, at least not yet. "I'm so sorry I made you feel that way…" I walked out of the room deciding I needed to take a walk. I walked for an hour before stopping at a park; slumping down on a bench I exhaled watching my breath. I was torn between the familiar and the unfamiliar; the good and the sometimes good.

Taking another deep breath, I was preparing to walk back to my hotel and take a long hot shower, and attempt to sleep on things when my phone interrupted my planning. I secretly prayed it wouldn't be Punk or Randy; regardless if they called to apologize or ask more questions, I couldn't handle hearing any of it. Looking at the caller ID, I saw my brother Jake was calling. Taking a deep breath I smiled hoping he had good news that would end the hellish night.

"Hey Jake, what's up?" I noticed the silence on the phone and sat up hoping he had a bad signal or something. "Jake, are you there?"

"Yeah I'm here…" His voice cracked slightly and I tried my best to ignore it hoping it was nothing. "Sara, you need to come home, its dad…" I'd been so lost in my own selfish world, worrying about what Randy thought, and spending time with Punk, that I hadn't even called home to see how he was.

"Is he doing better? Did the doctor's finally figure something out?" I knew I sounded naïve and stupid, but the six year old little girl in me wanted a miracle to happen.

"Ahh, Sara, you should just really come home…" I shook my head as tears started to fall; I wouldn't believe the worst until I heard it.

"Jake tell me what's going on!" I heard him sniffle and lost it; my brother was a marine, the toughest guy I knew, he never cried. "Please…"

"I'm sorry Sara; he fought for as long as he could…" I put my hand over my mouth trying to muffle the sobs that were coming. I'd just been given the worst possible news a person could hear and I was a thousand miles away. I took a few deep breaths and wiped away the tears thinking of a million different things I needed to do before heading home.

"Umm, I'll call you back once I figure things out…"

"Are you going to be okay to fly?" I took another deep breath nodding to reassure myself before answering.

"Yeah, I'll be okay; I have to call my boss and book a flight, but I'll call you as soon as everything is settled." I didn't wait for a reply before I hung up the phone. Getting up from the bench, I just started walking again; probably my attempt to forget everything that had happened throughout the day, but there was no forgetting.

Once I was back in the comfort of my hotel, I called Vince and was very gracious of the two weeks off he'd granted me. I knew it was screwing up the storyline that had just started, but he assured me everything would be fine and I'd still have my spot on the roster. After packing my suitcase and booking a flight for early the next morning, I made my way to the shower and finally let the tears flow.

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**:( Poor Sara...sorry to leave it on a sad note, but it won't be sad forever...**


	14. Chapter 14

**Weekly update :) Just like I say any other time, thanks so much for the favs, followers and reviews; I love them all, it's great to get feedback from readers...**

**Also, I started a new story this week that I'm hoping to start posting by the end of the week...despite telling myself to finish the ones I already have in progress, I couldn't help writing this one...the idea was there, one that I've seen done a few times, but I challenged myself to do it better...I'll keep you posted on when I post it though seeing I have yet to come up with a title...**

**Last chapter brought bad news to an already confused Sara...hope you enjoy!**

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**Punk's POV:**

"Hey Sara, it's me…again…anyway I'd really like it if you'd return my calls because we need to talk about the other night. I'm…I'm sorry for flipping out and acting like that and I'd like to make it up to you…just please call me or text me, let me know you're alive…"

I'd been trying to get Sara on the phone for three days now to apologize; I had no right to go off on her the way I did, but her rejection got the best of me. She was right in pulling away, I was in a relationship and two more minutes of my lips on hers would have resulted in a mistake; if I ever got the chance to be intimate with Sara the last thing I wanted was for it to weigh heavy on my conscience.

I arrived at the arena in Tulsa, walking down the halls keeping my head down, minding my own business. I turned the corner to head to my locker room only to find my least favorite person blocking the door. I let out a sigh as he looked at me, his arms crossed over his chest trying to look big and bad, but I wasn't afraid of him.

"Where's Sara?" I raised my eyebrow; I'd expected she'd left my room and went back to his, but seeing he didn't know where she was I found myself becoming even more worried.

"Wait, she isn't with you?"

"What the fuck kind of question is that? I wouldn't be asking you if I knew where she was. The last I saw of her she was in my bed Saturday night; I woke up and she was nowhere to be found. I figured she'd run to her little boyfriend…"

"She did, but we had a heated discussion and she left; I haven't heard from her since."

"Well she didn't just vanish into thin air, what the fuck did you say to make her take off?" I clenched my jaw feeling the need to get defensive; yes we'd had an argument, but Sara disappearing wasn't just my fault.

"Oh so you're blaming me for her taking off? Did it ever occur to you that maybe your revenge fuck was the reason?" Randy dropped his arms to his sides, his fists balling up. "You're gonna hit me huh? Go ahead Randall, take your best shot!" I laughed knowing he didn't have the balls to do it; besides he already had enough strikes against him, one more and he'd be future endeavored.

"You know what Punk, Sara wouldn't have run off if you didn't treat her like shit. I don't understand what she sees in you, why she even bothers being around you. You're nothing, a nobody…"

"That's funny because last time I checked I'm the champ and you're a chump. Good luck finding Sara, I hope she tells you to go fuck yourself again!" I turned my back to walk to catering and was caught off guard by Randy shoving me into the wall; I should've known he was a coward and would attack when I wasn't looking. A right hook to the jaw caught him off guard as he backed away holding his face, but unfortunately for me Vince had chosen that moment to round the corner.

"Brooks, Orton, what the hell is going on here?" Orton glared in my direction, his way of telling me this fight wasn't over; I smirked right back, my way of saying bring it.

"It's nothing sir…" Vince looked from Orton to me and then back to Orton.

"It didn't look like nothing; both of you my office now!" I rolled my eyes feeling like I was in junior high again about to be sentenced to a suspension for fighting. The only upside was there were some concerts back home in the next few days that I wouldn't mind attending, so a mini vacation wouldn't be so bad.

After a long, pointless lecture, I was suspended for three days while Randal ended up with small fine; pretty much the story of my life. I shrugged my shoulders grabbing my bag and heading back to the rental figuring there was probably a red eye of some kind I could catch. Flipping through my contacts, I had every intention of calling Colt when I noticed a random number. Thinking for minute I remembered Sara using my phone to call her brother one afternoon. Seeing I'd been calling and texting Sara for three days with no luck of a response, I figured what the hell; a call to her brother would at least put my mind at ease.

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**Sara's POV:**

I had bought a new dress for the first time in a year, but couldn't help feeling saddened that it wasn't for a better occasion. I looked in the mirror taking in my appearance, but still felt like the last four days had been a bad dream. I closed my eyes wishing I could go back to Friday; I'd had a free day and spent it with Punk. We took in lunch and a movie, just exploring the city we were in, something that we rarely had time for.

Opening my eyes I thought about Punk again remembering everything he'd said about me choosing Randy over him. Despite everything, I'd thought about both men in the past few days especially since they'd both been calling and texting trying to find out where I was. Part of me wanted to text them and tell them what had happened, but the other part didn't want the pity and sympathy. Taking a deep breath, I fastened a pearl necklace that my father had bought me for my sixteenth birthday and prepared myself to say goodbye.

There were hundreds of people that attended my dad's funeral; family, friends, coworkers and acquaintances made a long line as they waited to say their final goodbye and pay respect to my mom, my brothers and I. Jake stood beside me, something I was grateful for because I drew strength from him. My mom was a mess, which was understandable, but it left everything on me and my brothers. Halfway through, Jake leaned over resting his hand on my shoulder and whispering in my ear.

"Why don't you go get some air, take a few minutes." I looked at him in his dress blues and shook my head; I could do this, I was okay. "Sara please, just go…it'll do you wonders and we aren't getting out of here any time soon." I wasn't sure why he was pushing so much, but being the younger sibling, I obliged.

As soon as the cool air hit me, the tears came. Luckily I'd found a quiet corner where no one would notice me; I was free to just let go hoping that a brief meltdown would help me get through the rest of the night. I took a deep breath wiping away the tears sliding down my cheeks and jumped slightly as I felt someone touch my forearm. I turned slowly assuming it was one of my brothers, but was very surprised to find Phil Brooks standing before me.

"What are you…how…I…"

"You look like you could use a friend right now…" He smiled a familiar smile and I fell apart all over again. I didn't know what to think of the situation, but I felt him pull me to his chest where I cried for several minutes. Even after I'd stopped crying he didn't let go and I realized I didn't want him to. We stood, entwined together, for several minutes in silence before I spoke.

"Phil…"

"Yeah…"

"I don't know how you found out about all this, but thank you for coming; it means a lot." He kissed the top of my head before running his hands over my bare arms to warm me up.

"It's what friends do. I wish you would've called me and told me, but I know you have your reasons why you didn't. I know this isn't the time or place to discuss the last time we saw each other, but I owe you an apology." I pulled back wanting to look into his eyes.

"We've both made mistakes, you're not the only one to blame. I haven't always been good to you, actually we haven't always been good to each other, but as much as I want to go forward with you, I can't right now. You're in a relationship and I've already messed up one friendship, I don't want to screw up another one." Punk nodded in agreement seeing where I was coming from before smirking.

"I think that's what's best, for the two of us to just keep being friends and see what happens from there. I know I haven't always been the nicest, and I regret putting our professional relationship before any type of personal one, but I'm hoping we can work on things. Also, for the record, I am a single man now." Punk wiggled his eyebrows and despite the fact it wasn't the right time for him to throw in the single status, I couldn't help but laugh noticing him trying. I realized in that moment it was the first time I'd laughed in four days and I had him to thank for it.

"I should get back inside…"

"Umm, do you want me to go with you? I mean we haven't talked a lot about your family, but I need to thank Jake seeing he's the reason why I'm here." I wondered for a minute before remembering calling Jake from Punk's phone. Punk constantly kept tabs on his phone, so surely seeing a number he didn't recognize would send him into detective mode and I was happy it did; I'd been in denial thinking I could get through the loss of my father on my own. I took Punk's hand giving him a small smile as we headed back inside.


	15. Chapter 15

**Should I be asleep? Yes, but inspiration struck at the most inopportune moment and ta-da chapter 15 :) I finished it up and did a quick read through, figured I'd publish it in the AM and then realized here it is the AM already, so what the heck...might as well do it now especially since it's been a while (my bad)...**

**Thanks for the constant support and feedback with reviews, adds, favorites...great stuff :) Anyway, I hope you enjoy...oh and I'm thinking in upcoming chapters to throw in another POV, possibly two, so it won't be just Sara and Punk, but it all depends on how things come together if I'll do that or not...let me know what you think!**

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**Sara's POV:**

I'd been back for just over two weeks finding myself slowly adjusting to the changes in my life. While it was hard dealing with the loss of my dad, Punk surprisingly helped finding different ways to keep me occupied so I wasn't thinking about it as much.

On a Saturday night, after a house show in LA, we sat in my room watching _Hostel_, well Punk watched it, and I sat contemplating. We'd both made an agreement that we were better off as friends right now, but as much as I tried to convince myself of that, my mind constantly wondered what a relationship with Punk would be like. Granted he was far from perfect, especially in the early morning hours when we trained together, but I'd noticed so many new things about him; things that intrigued me and kept me guessing.

On our journey to friendship, I'd discovered we had a lot in common, something I never would have guessed during the four month period we worked together. I found myself constantly laughing or smiling when he was around, it was near impossible to stay mad at him no matter how hard I tried. So what was holding me back? He was right there next to me, his hand inches from mine, his lips not much further, but still I held back kicking myself the entire time.

"You okay?" My thoughts of what could be were interrupted by Punk; I wondered why at first before realizing I'd been staring blankly as the end credits rolled.

"Ahh, yeah totally fine…why?"

"You're quiet tonight, acting a little funny; you're not developing some kind of crush on me are you?" I let out a nervous laugh feeling the need to face palm myself for my half assed attempt of acting natural.

"Don't you wish?" He was quiet for a minute just staring at me and smirking away; his deep hazel orbs made my insides burn with desire, but just as I was about to throw the rule book out the window and go for it, he turned away.

"I should go; I've got an early day tomorrow with press and then traveling to Sacramento, but thanks for tonight. I'm glad I've found someone to bond with over my love for gory horror, the fact that it's someone with boobs is a plus as well." I elbowed him letting out a genuine laugh before crawling off the bed and walking him to the door.

Closing the door, I leaned against it letting out a deep sigh. There were very few times in my life that I wasn't sure what to do and this was one of those times. I'd rushed into things quickly with Randy and it ended badly; I didn't want the same thing to happen with Punk, but I couldn't ignore how I was feeling. Walking towards the bed again, I figured maybe some sleep would help clear my head and I'd forget how I felt in the morning, but seeing I said this every night it was doubtful.

I had just finished fluffing my pillows and turning down the blankets when I heard a knock at the door. Punk had a habit of leaving things behind, something I was beginning to think he did on purpose, so I couldn't help the grin forming as I went to open the door. Disregarding the peephole, I swung it open.

"What did you forget this time?" I was greeted by broad shoulders and steel blue eyes, face to face with Randy Orton. I hadn't spoken to him since our last encounter, the one that ended in all out sex, so I was instantly taken back at the site of him. Crossing my arms over my chest, I leaned against the door giving him the best strong face I could muster. "What do you want Randy?"

"I came to apologize to you for what happened between us, that shouldn't have happened and I really regret not listening to what you had to say."

"I'm glad I'm not the only one regretting the events of that evening, but what's done is done, neither of us can take it back now."

"I know that, but I still wanted to apologize for pushing it. I heard about your dad too; I really wish you would've called me so I could've been there for you…at least as a friend." I swallowed noticing the dryness in my throat; I didn't want to talk about this, not now, not ever.

"It's fine; I had my family and Punk showed up, so I made it through." Randy smirked as I mentioned Punk.

"I should've known he knew where you were the whole time; he's a real son of a bitch you know, we'd still be together if it wasn't for his interference." I shook my head finding it unbelievable that he was blaming our demise on Punk. Granted Punk's accidental sleepover hadn't helped fix our relationship, but it was broken long before that.

"Punk didn't know where I was, he only found me because of my brother. Believe what you want, but my father's death was something that was very personal to me and I didn't have intentions of involving either of you. As for our relationship you and I both know we jumped in head first and never looked back; Punk is as much to blame for its demise as the President is. Clearly we weren't meant to be; there were communication issues, intimacy issues and the big one being you didn't trust me. If you can't trust your partner, the relationship is dead on arrival." Randy crossed his arms taking a deep breath; I could tell he was swallowing his pride. He wanted to tell me all the reasons as to why I was wrong, but instead he manned up and tried to make amends.

"Regardless what ended our relationship, the point is I miss you; I miss spending time with you and I'm hoping we can get past our issues and be friends again. You're an amazing person Sara and I want you in my life." Maybe it was foolish of me to buy into what he'd said, but it was something I needed to hear. I'd been with the WWE for close to a year and still only had a handful of people I could trust; even though Randy couldn't seem to trust me, I still found I trusted him.

"Alright then, consider the past the past, let's start fresh." Randy smiled and I was surprised to find that the flutter I once felt from seeing his smile wasn't there anymore.

"Great, are you free for lunch tomorrow?"

"I suppose I could be; I have a few things tomorrow morning, but I'll be free around one if that works for you."

"Works great, I'll see you then; good night Sara."

"Good night…" I watched him turn to walk down the hallway before closing the door and laying in bed. Perhaps things with Randy would work out for the better; we'd both agreed a friendship was best for us and lunch was a great first step in the right direction. Rolling over I took a deep breath; one good thing that Randy would bring was a distraction. Maybe spending time with him could make my mind stop wondering about Punk so much.

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**So close...yet still so far...some twists and turns to come that I hope will keep you all interested! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Punk's POV:**

By the time my requested 6AM wake-up call came through, I was already up, showered, shaved and ready for a full day of media. I was far from anticipating a day of repeated questions and selling the upcoming events, but it was all in a days work and the plus side of today was Sara being my co-pilot…at least I told myself it was the plus side.

We'd agreed to be friends; she wasn't ready for a relationship and I'd just gotten out of one, so rushing into anything serious wouldn't benefit either of us. Though we both agreed, it still didn't stop me from wanting more. The more time we spent together, the more I wanted to push becoming a couple, but I knew her personal life was somewhat of a mess thanks to dip-shit Randy and the unfortunate passing of her father. Unfortunately her misfortunes didn't stop me from dreaming about her and that only happened when I wasn't wide awake thinking about her. I wasn't sure how much more I could take before throwing in the towel; spending time with her had quickly become a double edged sword.

I figured she was just waking up, and decided to surprise her with coffee seeing we were both in for a long morning. My plan was for coffee to lead to a quick morning and perhaps a late lunch where I'd planned on putting it out there; as much as I didn't want to press the issue, keeping my feelings for her pent up for a second time wasn't good for either of us. I could feel myself slipping back into old habits, making smart ass remarks towards her and I'd already learned once that was not the way to get the girl. I had to play it cool, take it one day at a time, and just hope it didn't take too long for her to reciprocate her feelings.

Knocking on her door, she answered with rollers in her hair, her make-up half done and an oversized T-shirt; walking into the room it looked like a bomb had gone off in her suitcase as I witnessed clothing scattered around the room.

"What is going on in here?" She took the cup of coffee I extended, her lips displaying a pouty look; I forced myself to swallow some scorching hot coffee because the pouty look wasn't helping.

"I have nothing to wear…" I couldn't help laughing a little, which didn't go over well with Sara as she threw a pillow at me.

"What? I'm sorry, but since when do you care about your looks so much? You know you'll look beautiful no matter what you wear; hell you could go with rollers in and that oversized T-shirt and you'd be the envy of women everywhere." She smiled and I took notice of the slight blush that she desperately tried to hide.

"I know this is so not like me, but I want to look the part. This is my first media day and seeing I'm not even the divas champ right now it's a pretty big deal."

"You're with me, you'll be fine; believe me I could do media in my sleep…"

"That isn't very promising seeing you never sleep! It looks like you had another rough night last night; who were you dreaming about now?" I noticed the smirk playing on her lips and wanted so badly to tell her everything right then, but she was already stressed enough over media, now just wasn't the right time.

"Touché…anyway you need to pick something from the floor and get dressed because the car should be here in ten minutes."

"Shit!" Sara rushed into the bathroom already beginning to remove the rollers in her hair while I sat and gathered my thoughts.

"So after we're done today, I thought maybe I could treat you to lunch…you know, nothing serious, just a congrats on completing your first big media day." She was quiet for a few minutes and I wondered if she'd heard what I said, but as I went to repeat myself she appeared in front of me looking better then ever. Her long silky brown hair had soft waves in it, her make-up very light and natural and the outfit was one that I approved of. Sara had chosen a pair of jeans that clung tightly to her curves and a black and gray striped top that showed just the right amount of cleavage along with a small strip of her toned, tanned stomach; I knew then it was going to be a long day.

"Hey! Is this not okay? Should I change?" I cleared my throat hoping she hadn't noticed my gawking and simply nodded.

"Looks great…umm anyway, lunch later…"

"I wish I could, but I already made plans." I felt a sense of anger and jealousy begin to arise, but tried to calm myself; maybe she was just going out with AJ or one of the other divas. Randy hadn't even looked her way since she'd come back from personal leave, so I had nothing to worry about.

"Oh well that sucks, but I suppose girl time is important…there's always tomorrow."

"Uh yeah…tomorrow is great…" I noticed a shift in her mood and felt the need to fire twenty questions her way until I found out what she was hiding. I knew Sara better then she thought I did and her sudden silence didn't bode well with me; seeing we were set to spend the next six hours with one another, I left it go choosing to withhold my feelings of both want and jealousy…for now at least.

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**Sara's POV:**

Punk was quiet for most of the morning and he didn't have to say anything for me to realize he knew something was up. Part of me wanted to come clean; after all it was just lunch between two friends. I no longer had feelings for Randy, but felt he deserved a second chance, we both did, but I knew if I told Punk the truth it wouldn't set well with him. He was convinced now more then ever that Randy was bad news; his lack of caring when I came back from my personal leave had Punk feeling like he was right all along, but Randy often had his reasons for keeping his distance.

We were in the car on our way back to the hotel after a successful morning of media and I couldn't take the silence any longer. I took a deep breath and bit my lip before turning my attention to Punk.

"Listen I need to tell you something, but I'm worried you're going to freak out and I really don't want to deal with that right now." He set his phone down turning his focus to me, a small smirk on his lips. His hand reached out covering mine and I could feel my heart speed up; as much as I wanted to enjoy this moment, I knew it wasn't going to last much longer.

"What's up?"

"So earlier you asked me out to lunch and I told you I couldn't, that I had other plans…"

"Yeah…what's the big deal? Are you lying about these other plans to get away from me for a while? If you need some space please just tell me, I don't want you to feel smothered." I shook my head because frankly that's the last thing I wanted.

"No! I don't want that at all…I do have plans this afternoon to have lunch…with Randy." I felt like a coward as I dropped my gaze from his, but I couldn't deal with seeing the raw emotion in his eyes.

"I see…does this mean that you two are back on?" He pulled his hand away and it felt like he'd ripped a piece of my heart out.

"No…he came to my room after you left last night to apologize about a few things and he wants to work on our friendship. Phil I swear to you it's different this time; I don't even feel anything where he's concerned anymore." Punk just nodded looking out the window; though he wouldn't look directly at me, I could see he was upset.

"Hey you do what you want to…I mean after all we're only friends right?" The tone in his voice ripped through me as I found myself being face to face with the old Phil Brooks; the one that found me to be a worthless person, a waste of time, and a waste of space. I bit my cheek trying to hold back tears, but they fell anyway. My chance with Punk was slipping away and I not only didn't know how to get it back, but I wasn't sure I wanted it back.

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**Oh Punk...just can't seem to say the right things...will he ever get it right and get the girl?**


	17. Chapter 17

**So the outcome of the Rumble wasn't what I wanted, but life goes on...I won't spoil for anyone, though I'm sure most of you already know the outcomes, but it's whatever...curious what's next...**

**Anyway, chapter 16, everyone concluded Punk was being a dumby and Sara should ditch Randy...has he wised up? Did she cancel? All questions will be answered this chapter and we'll find out just why Mr. Punk despises Randal so much...enjoy!**

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**Punk's POV:**

I watched Sara get out of the car and run towards the hotel; even though she'd tried to hide it, I knew she had been crying in the car and I felt like an idiot. The guy I swore I wouldn't be anymore had crept up and broke her down. As angry as I was with myself, I was just as angry with her for falling for Randy's bullshit. I'd seen him pull the same routine time and time again and knew he wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted…her.

Rather then going after Sara, I decided to take a walk and try to cool down. I should've seen this coming; Sara's main flaw was her big heart, and she'd never deny anyone a second chance even if everyone around her found that person undeserving of her attention and Randy Orton was on that list for me.

I had tried to get along with him when I was first called up, but our similar 'better than you' attitudes caused too much conflict. From there I tried to avoid him and that worked for a while until he hooked up with Maria. I'd convinced myself that Maria was an adult, she could make her own choices, but I watched from afar as he tore down the beautiful, confident, bubbly redhead that I'd known so well and once loved with all my heart. I'd tried to mind my own business, but after I'd found her drunk and alone in a dark alley by a club we'd all gone to, I was sent over the edge. He'd dumped her like she was yesterday's trash and I lost it, unable to hold my tongue anymore.

A shoving match turned into a fist fight and he'd attempted to kill me as he pushed me into oncoming traffic, but in the end the fact that I was sober and he wasn't saved my ass. Half the roster was needed to tear us apart and I was further disgusted when Maria defended him. She'd left the company a month later and she'd never been the same since. I didn't want Sara to end up that way; besides that I cared about her too much to sit back and watch everything go down, because this time I was dead set on killing the bastard.

After an hour of walking, I decided to head back to the hotel to try and talk to Sara. Regardless how I felt about her associating with Randy again, she deserved an apology; deciding to sweeten the deal, I stopped at a flower shop on the corner and grabbed a bouquet of daisies along with a teddy bear holding a heart with the phrase 'I'm beary sorry' embroidered on it. Was it incredibly cliché and cheesy? Absolutely, but I knew it would make her smile and that smile would lessen the heartache if she did decide to get back with Randy. Walking into the lobby, my head was full of thoughts of what to say, my heart full of hope for what she'd say back. With my head high, I walked toward the elevator catching a glimpse of Sara and Randy before the doors closed; in a brief moment I lost all thoughts and any hope left was shattered.

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**Sara's POV:**

I pushed the lettuce leafs around my plate having lost my appetite after what had happened in the car. After my conversation with Punk, all I wanted to do was go to my room and throw a self-pity party, but Randy had insisted on having lunch. I knew I was horrible company; he'd been going on for an hour and I hadn't taken notice of a word he'd said. Snapping fingers an inch from my face caused me to jump and I noticed the look of annoyance on his face.

"Maybe we should try this some other time…perhaps when you're feeling more like yourself." As horrible as it was, I felt a sense of relief that I was finally being let off the hook. I nodded pulling away from the table and balling my napkin up, tossing it on my plate.

"I'm really sorry because I know this lunch was not what you were hoping for, but it's just been a really rough day; I swear I'll make it up to you though…" Randy's hard face softened a bit as I noticed the familiar smirk grace his lips making me feel better about the whole situation.

"Don't blame yourself; I should've taken your word when you said you weren't up to it earlier, but I was looking forward to lunch so much I let my selfishness get in the way. Do you want to talk about what happened?" As sincere as Randy seemed, that was the last thing I wanted to talk about.

"Not right now…I'm going to go take a shower and a long nap, but thanks for lunch." I stood up starting away from the table.

"Oh, wait…" I glanced behind me quickly noticing Randy was right beside me, his hand on my lower back. "At least let me walk you to your room?" I didn't really see it necessary, but I nodded not feeling up to a debate. We walked out of the hotel restaurant towards the elevators in silence, something I was grateful for. I pushed the up button and began tapping my toe losing more patience by the minute; my eyes glanced up to see the number 12 lit up and I let out a sigh. All I wanted was to get to my room and be alone, but it seemed like the entire world was against that idea.

My eyes began to wander throughout the lobby trying to pass the time when I noticed Punk enter the hotel. I cursed under my breath and Randy took notice following my line of vision and wrapping his arm around my shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze. I found it to be a friendly gesture and ignored it all together upon hearing the ding signaling the elevator had arrived. Before my feet could move, Randy shoved me into the elevator, turned me to face him and pressed his lips to mine; my body tensed up feeling the unwanted affection and as the elevator doors closed, I used all my strength to shove him away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" A sick smirk fell on his lips as I angrily wiped at mine.

"I'm doing exactly what you wanted me to do; I'm not an idiot Sara, I know you want me back. In most cases I'd ignore you, put you in the used goods category, but there's something about you that makes me want more of you. It's quite a surprise to me seeing you were such a cock tease the first time we went out and then you started hanging out with that punk ass bitch. Clearly he showed you his true colors today and I'm sure after that little showing he won't be bothering you anymore; he learned his lesson before about messing with my women." Randy moved closer placing his hands on either side of me; I couldn't believe what he was saying, but I wanted it to stop. I wanted to go back and listen to every warning Punk ever gave me about Randy, but I couldn't; all I could do was get away from him as fast as possible.

"You disgust me! I am not nor was I ever yours and even though you think you've ruined everything between me and Punk, you're wrong." He let out a deep laugh lifting his hand and settling it on my cheek.

"Keep telling yourself that sweetheart; even if he does believe you it's only a matter of time before you realize he's not the man you need, I am. I'm almost more man then you can handle and if you toss me aside this time, I'm afraid I won't be here for you the next time he breaks you down." He forcefully grabbed my hair pulling it so I was looking up at him; even though I was trying to show he wasn't intimidating me, my tough façade was quickly breaking down. Randy leaned in to kiss me again, but fell short as my knee met his groin; he backed up hunched over, his hand covering his swollen family jewels. The doors to the elevator opened and I took off running not looking back, disregarding Randy's screams. "I'll get you back for this you stupid bitch! Not even your little boyfriend can save you from me!"

I ran to the stairwell running up three flights, taking the stairs two at a time, but refusing to stop despite the burning in my lungs. I knocked hysterically on his door praying to God he would answer because I knew somewhere in this hotel Randy was looking for me, but it was pointless. I knew he'd seen Randy kiss me and even though I didn't want any part in his act, it could have easily appeared that I did; I kicked myself for not slapping him in the first place. Slumping against Punk's door, I sat in the hallway catching my breath and trying to hold in the deep sobs that so badly needed to come out; just when I thought today couldn't have gotten any worse, I was wrong.

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**Will Punk listen to Sara and learn the truth, or will Randy get to her before Punk? Hope to post later this week! Thanks for the adds/reviews and favorites!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Overall response of last chapter...Randy is a jackass and Punk needs to get with it...well we shall see if he gets a clue this chapter or if the site of Randy and Sara kissing is forever burned in his brain ruining any future for the two of them...**

**Thanks for all the support, I'm always excited to read your reactions and you guys are very passionate with your thoughts and vocal with your concerns...I've been listening too, trying to incorporate as much as possible...here's hoping I listened well enough! Enjoy!**

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**Punk's POV:**

The hurt in my chest was worse then I had expected it to be; it's not like we were together and I'd just caught her cheating, but I still felt betrayed. I got off the elevator and mindlessly walked down the hall tossing the flowers and the bear in the trash. There wasn't much of a point in apologizing now, she'd made her choice and I wasn't it. I rounded the corner feeling the exhaustion of the day hit me all at once and then noticed Sara. She had her knees drawn to her chest, her head down and I debated running the other way, but the sound of her sobs hit a nerve and I found myself going to the rescue again.

I sat down beside her unsure of what to say or do; taking a deep breath, I placed my hand on hers and quickly realized I wasn't prepared of what was to come. Her eyes were red and puffy showing she'd been crying for a while and I didn't understand; I'd seen her kissing Randy, clearly they were back together, so why was she crying outside of my room. I took a deep breath almost afraid to ask as her arms slipped around my neck; her grip was anaconda like.

"Woah, calm down…at least let me breathe a little bit…" She let go wiping the tears from her face giving me a small smile.

"I'm sorry, but I just needed you right now…" I stood up shaking my head and moved around her to open my door.

"So let me get this straight, you're telling me you need me, but not even ten minutes ago I witnessed you kissing Randy. I'm not sure I understand the game you're trying to play here Sara, but I'll tell you this…I'm out…" I walked inside not realizing Sara had slipped in before the door latched. I took off my hoodie and shirt tossing them on a vacant chair and turned to lay on the bed when I noticed her staring at me.

"I'm sorry to invade your space, but you need to realize that what you saw wasn't what it looked like…" I rubbed the back of my head letting out a light laugh.

"It wasn't what it looked like; is that so? I saw his lips on yours, if that's not kissing then maybe I've been doing it wrong all these years."

"Will you please just listen to what I have to say?" I noticed the anger and frustration in her voice and decided to let her go on. "Randy kissed me; I didn't kiss him, in fact that was the last thing I wanted!" I ran my hand over my head; she didn't want Randy, she didn't want me, so what the hell did she want?

"If you don't want him, then what do you want? I can't figure it out and God knows I've been trying to. I thought maybe you were into me, but after seeing you with him I realize now that I was way off…" As much as I didn't want it to, my voice was getting louder as more of my frustration came to the surface. I looked at Sara who was staring at the tan carpet; my agitation with her grew figuring she probably hadn't listened to a word I'd said. "You know what maybe you should just go and when you figure out what you want then please put me on the list to know; until then it would probably be best if we just didn't see each other." I turned away from her expecting to hear the door close, but after a few minutes I heard her speak instead.

"Do you really want to know what I want?" I turned around to see she was two steps away; before I could say anything her lips were on mine. Her hands rested on my chest as mine went for her waist feeling the soft exposed skin; weeks of frustration crashed together at once as our tongues invaded each others mouths, and I lifted her shirt over her head. Part of me wanted to slow things down, savor the moment, while the animalistic side just wanted to take her without a second thought; before I could decide, she pulled away gasping for air.

"I'm sorry for everything; for ever leading you on, for not listening to you, for not giving you a chance…and especially about Randy…" I guided her face back to mine, "None of that matters now, all that matters is this." I pressed my lips to hers again, but the earlier feelings had gone to the wayside and I couldn't stop thinking about what had gone down with Randy. I pulled away trying to catch my breath and my eyes must have given away that there was something I was wondering about.

"It does matter doesn't it?" I felt like such a chick as I sat on the edge of the bed nodding before my eyes fell on the carpet again; she sat beside me her hand brushing against my arm.

"I really don't want it to matter, but I just watched you make out with another guy twenty minutes ago and I just can't get that out of my head."

"Phil I swear to you I didn't know he was going to do that; lunch didn't go well at all because I was too distracted by what had happened between us and I just wanted to be left alone. He offered to walk me to my room and I figured it was just a friendly gesture and said okay. While we were waiting for the elevator, I saw you come in and he must have noticed that I was staring at you because the next thing I knew he was throwing me into the elevator and forcing himself on me." My jaw tensed as I heard the true story; I already despised Randy Orton as it was, but to know that he'd tried to ruin things between Sara and I made my hatred rise to another level. I stood up grabbing my shirt and heading for the door, my thoughts full of rage and revenge.

"Wait, where are you going?" I didn't answer as I headed to the door, but stopped when Sara threw herself in front of it. "Please just let this all go; he's already caused enough trouble between us and I don't think I could deal with anymore. I know you're angry, so am I, but can you please just calm down and stay with me? It's been one hell of a day and all I want is to be with you…please…" I noticed the desperation in her eyes and knew I was the only thing that could make that go away, so I backed off taking her hand in mine and guiding her to the bed.

I shut the curtains and turned around to find Sara laying in bed; I couldn't help but take in the site, one that had only been in my dreams prior to now. I stripped down to my boxers and climbed into bed feeling a sense of calm I'd never felt take over me as she moved closer. After a few minutes, her breathing fell into a rhythmic motion and I smiled realizing she'd fallen asleep on my chest. I kissed the top of her head making the promise to myself that I'd do whatever I needed to keep Sara exactly where she was because that was where she was supposed to be.

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**;)**

**I've been working on a new story featuring Mr. Punk (what can I say, he's a great muse) and I'm hoping to begin posting it this weekend and hopefully I'll also have chapter 19 complete by then...hope you loved the outcome, please review! :D**


	19. Chapter 19

**So this isn't my best work (or so I think), but I wanted to give you guys something seeing it's been a while since I've updated this story...way too long in fact...this is a little bit of filler, but I have an idea that could start to unfold as early as the next chapter so hang on, it'll get better...**

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**Sara's POV:**

Phil and I decided to keep our relationship on the down low for a while because neither of us wanted to deal with the comments of our coworkers, especially Randy. He hadn't spoken to me since the elevator incident, but I didn't think he was done causing turmoil, not by a long shot.

A month into our relationship, it became harder to hide. Natalya and Layla had taken notice of me blowing them off to hang out with Phil and even though I tried to pass it off as spending time with another friend, they were determined to get the truth out of me.

I walked into the diva's locker room in Austin humming along to The Lumineers, minding my own business, when Natalya pulled out one of my ear buds.

"Hey, what was that for?" She smirked at me and I took notice of the other divas moving in. I took a deep breath wondering what this was about as I mentally prepared myself to continue the web of lies Phil and I had spun for the last month.

"How was your nap this afternoon, feeling better?" I pushed a lose hair behind my ear giving her a small smile.

"It was good, just what I needed to prep for tonight."

"That's good to hear…" Despite getting her answer, Natalya continued to stare at me, her arms crossed over her chest and a look of knowing on her face.

"Yeah…can I ask what this is all about? Did I do something wrong?" She didn't answer instead turning her gaze to Layla.

"Sara have you seen _Silver Linings Playbook_ yet?" I swallowed the lump in my throat; I knew what this was about, Phil and I had been caught…but by whom?

"Alright, so you caught me…I ditched the mall outing to catch a movie with Phil; what's the harm in that?"

"No harm in that at all, but you two looked awful cozy…" I rolled my eyes; even though I worked with people in their twenties and thirties, there wasn't a day that went by where I didn't feel like I was in high school. Rather then continuing to be interrogated, I grabbed my bag and left the room. I walked down the hall to Phil's locker room and took a deep breath before knocking; it wasn't just my fault that our relationship was now in the open, but I knew he wasn't going to be thrilled about it.

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**Punk's POV:**

I was in the zone getting ready for my big number one contender match with Cena when there was a knock at the door; rolling my eyes I went to answer it. Despite asking numerous people not to bother me during my pre-match rituals, someone always felt the need to interrupt. Opening the door I found a frustrated Sara and wondered what was up; she was fine when we arrived at the arena and now she looked like she wanted to hurt someone…I was just hoping that someone wasn't me.

"What did I do now?" She let up giving me a small smile as she walked past me tossing her bag down on a vacant bench.

"It's more like what we both did; we've been caught." I was slightly surprised, but more that it had taken our nosey coworkers over a month to catch on; it felt like more of a relief then anything. The opportunity to go to a restaurant and eat out in the open rather then a crappy booth in the back by the kitchen was bonus enough for our relationship to have leaked.

"Okay…"

"Okay? You're not upset about this?"

"Not really…it was bound to come out sooner or later and granted I didn't want it exposed via the diva rumor mill, but it's out there. Are you pissed off about it?" She shrugged her shoulders dropping her gaze to the floor; a sure sign that she was upset about something. I walked over to her wrapping my arms around her waist so she felt a sense of security; I knew the real reason she was worried.

"Are you worried about Randy?" She nodded while still evading my gaze; I placed my finger under her chin tilting her head so that her eyes met mine. I placed a kiss on her forehead before giving her a reassuring smile. "He hasn't bothered you in over a month, I doubt that will change now, but if it does I can take care of him."

"I know you can, that's the part that worries me…" I couldn't blame her for feeling this way; she'd seen my temper arise a few times. As much as I hated for my dark side to come out around Sara, sometimes I just couldn't control it; Randy was one of those people that brought the worst out in me regardless how badly I wanted to be the bigger person. I pulled her close to me twirling a piece of her hair around my finger.

"Don't worry about me, just please do me a favor and don't believe everything you hear. Now that everyone knows we're together, they're going to tell you a bunch of ridiculous stories in an attempt to break us up. I've seen it happen before and unfortunately it's happened to me, but if you're curious about something then just ask me. I've been nothing but honest with you and you've seen me at both my best and my worst; I care about you a lot Sara and I have for some time, so just please don't listen to everyone else." She pulled away from me standing on her tiptoes to press her lips to mine.

"When have you known me to listen to anyone's gossip stories; you have nothing to worry about. As far as that other person goes, I think we've seen the last of him. I'm sorry for disturbing your pre-match routine, I know it's kind of a big deal, but I wanted you to hear the news from me and not AJ or one of the other crazy nonsensical ignoramuses we work with." I couldn't help but laugh at her big worded insults; as true as they were, they sounded ridiculous.

"Please do me a favor and leave the insults to me; I don't tell you who to hang out with, but avoiding Damien might not be a bad idea." She laughed again leaning up to kiss me once more, with this one lingering a little longer. "Also for the future, you can interrupt me anytime with those lips…" Sara pushed my chest rolling her eyes at me as she grabbed her bag heading for the door.

"I know that luck is for losers, so just do everyone a favor and put Superman in his place! I really don't want to see John and Dwayne have a shitty match for the second time; if that's the direction they'd be better off having the divas main event…" I shook my head as she walked out of the room before putting my headphones on and returning to my routine.


	20. Chapter 20

**It's been a while, my apologies...I knew where I wanted to take this story, but I wasn't sure how to get it there and the random Mae Young video of her receiving a Diva's title of her own gave me the extra push...**

**Thanks for all the reviews/favorites/follows...I'm making it a point to work on this story more so that I can wrap it up at some point even though honestly even I don't know how I want it to end yet...enjoy this chapter though, I'll post more this weekend! :)**

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**Sara's POV:**

Despite the burning in my chest and my muscles aching, adrenaline ran heavy through my body as I stared down at the divas title. There I was, front and center at Wrestlemania, achieving the one dream that until six months ago I thought would stay a dream.

I rolled out of the ring clutching the title close to my chest, my cheeks beginning to ache from the big smile on my face. I felt like someone was going to shake me awake at any minute, but as I walked through the curtain, I was greeted with high fives from close friends ending the congratulatory line with Phil. Forgetting the fact I was sweaty from wrestling a twenty minute match, I jumped into his arms almost knocking us both to the floor; he kissed me before putting me down, leaning in to whisper in my ear.

"See what happens when you listen to me? That moonsault was beautiful; I might not be able to throw one that isn't crooked, but I've been around the block, I know a thing or two." I smiled shoving him playfully.

"We should go out and celebrate later…"

"Already planned on it; I was also hoping you'd be willing to wear your new title and nothing else." He wiggled his eyebrows causing me to hit him a little harder.

"We'll have to see if you win first because I don't date losers."

"Then I guess I better go show you what I've got." With a kiss on the forehead, we went our separate ways as Phil headed for the gorilla, mentally preparing himself for one of the most important non-title matches of his career.

I got back to the locker room, surprised to find it quiet for once, and decided to just sit in my gear, the shiny new title on my lap. The adrenaline hadn't worn off and I was afraid that if I took my gear off everything would disappear, but it was all real. I'd busted my ass, had one of the most amazing matches of my career and threw a flawless moonsault; there wasn't much else that could make the night perfect, but with the sound of Phil's music hitting, my smile grew bigger.

AJ skipped into the room and I attempted to ignore her, but as she sat beside me I knew it was a lost cause.

"Congrats Sara; that was quite a show you and Kaitlyn put on…"

"Thanks…" I grabbed a towel from my bag draping it around my neck as I kept my eye on the monitor watching Phil and The Undertaker stare each other down.

"So how are things with you and Punk?" I took a deep breath trying to keep my cool, but I found it annoying that she was even asking. It wasn't any of her business how things were and I knew she, just like the rest of the locker room, was looking forward to the fallout of our relationship; something that I was determined to keep from happening. I was happy for the first time in a long time and Phil played a big part in that. Despite everything we'd been through, with him being a jerk, we were both in a good place. He still had jerk moments from time to time, but I also realized I could flip the bitch switch without even realizing it; we had flaws, but we were both human.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious; you guys make a good couple. I'm not trying to pry or anything, I mean I had feelings for Punk a long time ago, but Ziggy and I are doing great." I rolled my eyes not caring if she noticed or not; her and 'Ziggy' were ridiculous; it was clear that they tried way to hard to be a normal couple and everyone could see they were failing miserably at it. "So are you guys going out tonight?"

"I mentioned it; we'll probably just have a quiet dinner, just the two of us."

"Oh…you guys are that couple?" I raised an eyebrow feeling slightly annoyed with what she was insinuating.

"What do you mean 'that' couple?"

"The ones that are anti-social, you prefer to just hang out with each other and forget about everyone else. I've heard all about you ditching Natalya and Layla, plus Kofi mentioned that Punk doesn't even bother to watch sports with him anymore because he's with you…" I gritted my teeth together biting my tongue to keep from saying something terrible, which was becoming increasingly hard as AJ went on. "…and Randy thinks…" I lost it at the sound of his name.

"I don't give a shit what Randy thinks or anyone else for that matter! Phil and I are happy together!" She held her hands up noticing I was on the defense.

"Calm down! I understand you're upset, but you brought this on yourselves…there's an easy way to change it though." I took a deep breath deciding to listen in hopes that she'd go away. "Why don't you guys come out to the club with us tonight? There's a big group of us going and you'll show everyone that you're not that couple." I hadn't gone out to a club since the drink incident had happened and I knew Phil wasn't a big fan, so I hesitated giving her an answer. "If you don't want to go I'd completely understand, I mean with Punk slipping you a rufi last time…"

"Excuse me?"

"Well that's what happened! I don't expect you to remember seeing that you were drugged, but he wanted you so badly he paid the bartender to slip it in your drink. Who did you think did it?" I stared at the floor in shock trying to shake the words she'd said out of my head. It wasn't possible, Phil wouldn't do that…then again he was desperate to get my attention and quick to point the finger at Randy…I shook my head wanting to get as far away from AJ as possible grabbing my bag and heading to the shower.

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**Will she remember Punk's advice not to listen to heresay, or will she believe it? Let me know what you think!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Heads up that some of you might not like this chapter...thanks so much for the reviews, I know it had been a while since I updated, but my creative flow has been jump started with this story again, so be on the look out for more updates complete with twists and turns that you hopefully weren't expecting...Enjoy!**

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**Punk's POV:**

I met Sara outside of catering after the main event and could tell something was off; her earlier bubbly mood had been replaced by an off standing one as she stood with her arms crossed over her chest. I ignored it at first, but as we drove to the hotel it became increasingly worse as she stared out the window, silent.

I reached over resting my hand on her thigh noticing her flinch, "Hey are you okay? What happened to the good mood; you should be on cloud nine, you accomplished what you set out to…" She gave me a small smile, one I recognized as her nervous smile, before shrugging her shoulders.

"I'm fine, just a lot on my mind that's all…"

"Care to share? I've been told I'm a great listener…" She shook her head before continuing to stare out the window again. I let out a sigh deciding not to push it; I wasn't in the mood for an argument, and odds were whatever she had pent up would subside when we went out to celebrate. I grabbed our bags from the trunk and followed Sara inside; it was quiet as we went up six floors, a very awkward silence. When we made it back to the room, I dropped the bags by the door before walking across the room and wrapping my arms around Sara from behind; I felt her tense up and knew she was lying about being fine. Whatever it was that was bothering her had something to do with me and I quickly ran through the days events trying to remember if I had said or done something to make her act this way.

"What is wrong with you? Did I do something? I personally don't remember doing something, but it wouldn't be the first time that I've fucked up and not even realized it." She shook her head while furthering her distance from me.

"No…I just…even though I showered at the arena I still feel kind of gross…" I raised an eyebrow; this was the girl that never hesitated being affectionate with me regardless if she was dripping with sweat or not; she noticed my suspicions quickly changing the subject. "So about tonight…"

"What about it?"

"Well I was thinking instead of going out to dinner, just the two of us, that maybe you wouldn't mind meeting up with everyone else at a club."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be sure?"

"I don't know…seeing what happened last time you were at a club I didn't think you'd be so eager to go back to one."

"It's not a big deal; that was months ago…do you want to go or not?"

"If that's what you want to do, then that's what we'll do…" She gave me another fake smile before grabbing her bag and heading into the bathroom. Women could be so confusing, Sara was guilty of this a lot of the time, but something really wasn't right. I couldn't help but wonder if she was having second thoughts about us; if I wanted Sara to stay with me, I needed to make the night one she'd never forget.

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**Sara's POV:**

AJ's words played on a loop in my head; it didn't matter what I said or did to try to convince myself she was lying, I still couldn't ignore what she'd said. Part of me just wanted to tell Phil exactly what she'd said while the other part of me wanted to look into things and see if he was capable of doing something so awful. My inner detective was the only reason I agreed to go to the club that night and I had every intention of watching his every move.

I'll be the first to admit I'd had a little too much to drink, but it seemed like everyone wanted to buy me a congratulatory shot. Phil had sat at the bar the whole night looking less then pleased with my decisions, but he kept his opinion to himself.

We got back to the room a little after 2AM and I was happy to have the feel good feelings back, even if they were alcohol induced. Phil seemed to notice my mood change and smiled as he helped me to bed.

"I see you're feeling much better, did you drink away the bad mojo you were feeling earlier?"

"Yes, I am feeling so much better and I'm sorry if I was a bitch earlier, but I want to make it up to you." He smirked before leaning down and giving me a sweet kiss.

"There's plenty of time for that, but I think now you need to get some sleep princess…lucky for you we don't have anywhere to be tomorrow until the late afternoon, so you can sleep off the hangover that I know you're going to have."

"I can sleep when I'm dead…" I stood up wrapping my arms around his neck and pressing my lips to his; the kiss went from simple to passionate as my hands began tugging at the button on his jeans. To my surprise he pulled away wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Don't get me wrong, I want this, I want this really bad, but you're drunk; I don't want our first time to be like this." My happy feelings quickly turned to anger as AJ's words came back to haunt me, _"he wanted you so badly he paid the bartender to slip it in your drink. Who did you think did it?"_

"Is it because I'm actually conscious this time? Would you prefer if I were passed out and completely out of it so that I didn't have a choice in the matter?"

"Sara I think you need to lay down; you're talking crazy now, you need to sleep this off."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child! I know what you did Phil, AJ told me all about it!"

"What do you know, someone has started a rumor and you did the one thing I told you not to, you believed it! What am I guilty of exactly?"

"She told me you paid the bartender to rufi my drink that night and it makes sense. You were pretty much obsessed with me and you wanted to get me away from Randy. I'd probably still be with him if you hadn't stuck your nose into my business!"

"Oh really! Do you forget the part where he had zero trust in you? That freak show was fucked up way before I came along and I can't believe that you'd think I would do such a sick thing, apparently you aren't the person I thought you were. Besides that I was the person who saved your ass that night and I didn't even touch you nonetheless have sex with you."

"Why did you want me away from Randy so badly? What did he do to you that makes you hate him so much?" I noticed the flash of anger in Phil's eyes and instantly regretted not talking to him about what I'd heard in the first place; even though I was drunk and kept telling myself to shut up, I couldn't and I knew this was going to cost me my relationship; it was too bad I couldn't find the emotions to care.

"Do you want to know what he's done? He's broken every woman he's come across and one of them was very important to me. I've watched him use and abuse girl after girl and stupid me I felt something for you and didn't want to see you go down like the others; clearly that was a mistake because you're just like him." I stood in awe, feeling as if I was having an out of body experience as I watched him grab his bag and head toward the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" He said nothing and didn't even turn around to look at me; instead he just slammed the door. I slumped to the floor as the repercussions of the night hit me all at once; Phil had warned me there would be stories that would circulate, coworkers that would try to ruin what we had, and it only took one lie to wreck everything. The sobs were quiet and heavy taking all the energy I had left as I laid on the floor not sure what to do with myself.

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**Oh Sara what have you done?**

**Look for another update later this weekend...thanks!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Kind of left you hanging last chapter, so I tried to make this one a little longer...kind of worked, kind of didn't...**

**Thanks for all the reviews/follows/favorites...and for the people that felt bad for Punk b/c even though Sara is an OC I'm rolling with, I felt worse for Punk then Sara...maybe she'll be able to make it up to him, then again maybe not...Enjoy!**

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**Sara's POV:**

I woke up the next morning on the plush tan carpet feeling as if someone had a jackhammer going into my head. I sat up slowly hoping the room would stop spinning with time and reached for my purse popping two aspirin before crawling to the hotel mini fridge and grabbing a Gatorade. It took a few minutes to piece together where Phil was, but as the previous nights events came back to me, I felt the shame and stupidity all at once.

After grabbing a shower, I decided to buck up and go in search of Phil; I needed to talk to him and apologize even though I knew it was possible he wouldn't listen, I wouldn't blame him if he didn't.

I made my way to the gym casually looking around while doing a light workout; I still felt like I'd been hit by a train, but perked up when I noticed Kofi. Phil worked out with Kofi a lot, and even when that wasn't the case, they hung out together, so surely he'd know where to look.

"Hey Kof…"

"Hey Sara, or should I call you Champ?" I smiled remembering the only bright moment of the disastrous day that was my first Wrestlemania moment.

"I'll still answer to Sara…umm, I'm just wondering if you've seen Phil this morning. He left before I got up and hasn't answered my texts, so I figured he was in the gym, but I haven't seen him." Kofi gave me a sympathetic smile telling me that he knew some of the events that had happened the night before.

"He left early this morning to head back home…he contacted the front office about possibly opting out of his contract. I don't know what went down with you guys because he wouldn't talk about it, but he's torn up, probably the worst I've ever seen him." I felt the air leave my lungs as if I'd been punched in the gut; Phil was leaving the company, his dream job, and it was my fault.

I muttered a thank you before running back to my room and packing my bags. I had every intention of going to Chicago to stop him from making a terrible mistake, but was halted when I remembered I was booked to wrestle Kaitlyn on Raw. I sat on the foot of the bed feeling completely helpless before a surge of vengeful feelings began to fill my body. Someone had told AJ about what happened that night seeing that Phil, Randy and I were the only ones who knew; Phil was innocent, which left only one person. I was hell bent on getting to the bottom of this, but first I needed to make things right with Phil. I grabbed my phone and booked the red eye to Chicago; it was very possible he wouldn't let me in the door, but I had to find a way to apologize; going to him was a start, a very scary start.

After being up all night, it was a relief to stretch out on the couch even though I knew there was no way I was going to sleep. For the first time in a long time I'd been wrong about a person, which is a bitter pill to swallow seeing I'm usually a good judge of character; this time that wasn't the case.

I'd let Sara into my life, given her everything I could and even started to love her and I was repaid with accusations that questioned my entire being. I was sure that we could have worked things out if AJ had told her I cheated or lied, but the fact that she believed I'd gone against my morals and ideals to get her into bed made me realize the last six months were a waste; regardless if I was in love with Sara or not, she didn't know a thing about me or my straight edge beliefs. I guess to her it was just a bunch of meaningless tattoos, but to me those tattoos explained who I am.

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**Punk's POV:**

My phone vibrated and I didn't bother looking already knowing it was her. Maybe she did deserve to explain herself, but not now, not tonight, hell maybe not even tomorrow or next week; it was going to take a long time until I was ready to listen and even longer before I'd think about forgiveness, if ever.

I woke up to knocking on the door and rubbed my eyes not even remembering when I had dozed off, but checked my phone seeing it was after 2 in the morning. Colt was out of town and I hadn't told anyone else I was coming home, so I was curious as I shuffled across the floor letting out a big yawn before answering. Standing on the other side of the door was the one person that I didn't want to see and for once my gentleman-like gestures went to the wayside as I attempted to close the door again, but her adrenaline must have been pumping as she stopped it.

"Please…I know I'm the last person you want to see, but please just hear me out. All I'm asking for is a few minutes and if I can't convince you to change your mind then I'll leave and I promise you'll never see me again…please…" Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or her red rimmed eyes that showed she'd spent hours crying, but I caved letting her in before closing the door again.

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**Sara's POV:**

Once I was inside my nerves went awry; my mouth went dry and I had no idea what to say, but mostly because I never expected him to let me in.

"Well you said you wanted me to listen, so are you going to start talking now, or what?" I swallowed the lump in my throat trying to ignore the harsh tone; it was as if our relationship was back to day one and I'd just fucked up a spot.

"About last night, I should have talked to you about what AJ said. I knew deep down that it wasn't true, there was no way you would do that to me; it goes against every fiber of your being to associate with any kind of drug and you've treated me like a princess for the last few months that we've been together. You're not the type of guy to drug a girl to get what he wants and then just throw her away." I glanced from the oak hardwood floor to Phil noticing the hard lines on his face; I knew then that it didn't matter what I said, he wasn't going to forget about this.

"I'm glad you find me innocent, it's just too bad that you had to say half of the horrible things you said last night."

"Phil I'm sorry, I was drunk…"

"I'm aware and that's a problem for me Sara. Don't get me wrong, I don't care if you want to have a drink or two to relax or have a little fun, it's not my prerogative, but I understand not everyone has the same values and beliefs as I do. My problem is that any time you have a problem you go out and get bombed rather then talking to me about it. When we left the arena last night you were feeling confused and upset; you decided alcohol was the only thing that could make you feel happy again and that's a real problem for me. I should be the person that brings you up; you shouldn't depend on a substance to do that." I felt myself getting angry and upset, but managed to hold back the tears waiting for him to finish. "Sara you are fantastic person, but clearly you have issues with trust; you couldn't come to me and put your trust in me with this AJ thing, but you had no problem turning to a bottle of vodka. I was thinking to myself that you don't know me at all, but honestly I'm not so sure I know you…the bad part is I'm not sure I want to get to know you."

Tears were streaming down my cheeks; I should have been angry, but everything he'd said was true. I'd had trust issues with every man that had come into my life, but I always put the blame on them; clearly it was me. I wiped away the tears trying not to look at Phil as I finished what I'd come to say.

"Kofi told me you asked for your release and I'm begging you not to."

"Sara my release has nothing to do with you and I…"

"I don't care if it does or not; this is your life Phil, everything you worked so hard for, please don't throw it away. I've asked to be transferred to Smackdown, so you won't even have to see me; you can go on focusing on your career and move on with your relationships. I'm so sorry about not talking to you and not trusting you fully; I don't expect you to forgive me, but eventually I hope you can..." With that I walked past him needing to get away before I broke down completely in front of him; I'd hoped to hear him yell my name, or chase after me, but as I walked out into the cold Chicago night I found myself alone. I cried silently as I walked to the hotel knowing I had no one to blame for being alone but myself.

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**Now I feel bad for Sara...even if she did bring being alone on herself, she went from being happy to feeling like dirt in just a few hours :/**

**I'll update later this week, need to take some time and finish up the next chapter where I think I'm jumping ahead a bit, but I haven't decided 100% on that...let me know what you think! Thanks :D**


	23. Chapter 23

**It's been a while...tried to give you a longer update and it kind of worked...Thanks for the reviews/follows/favorites...I feel like I always have the same thing up here...anyway...**

**Enjoy!**

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**Sara's POV:**

Two weeks had gone by since I'd last seen Phil in Chicago and I'd made it my job to avoid him and everyone else. I didn't want to answer questions or even talk about what had happened, all I wanted was to do my job, something that was becoming harder by the day seeing all I could focus on was the pain in my chest. As much as I tried to shrug off my feelings, pretend like I was fine, I was far from fine and people were starting to notice.

I'd arrived at the arena in Pittsburgh for the super show annoyed that I had to be there as an extra; in an attempt to avoid everyone, I found a deserted corner deciding there was no better time to squeeze in another work-out then now.

I'd just gotten into the zone, "Girl on Fire" blaring through my headphones as tears mixed with beads of sweat. I could feel myself headed for another break down, but was stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder; I turned around hoping to see one person, but was disappointed to find another. My impending break down was halted seeing a pair of steel blue eyes staring at me, a sickening smirk spread across his lips that I wanted so badly to slap off.

"Oh Sara, why so down? Where's your little boyfriend now?"

"Go to hell Randy! You know exactly what happened seeing you caused it; you just couldn't stand to see a real man making me happy, could you?" The smirk faded from Randy's lips and for a minute I expected him to turn violent, but he didn't.

"Let me guess AJ got to you…"

"Only because you told her what happened that night; why would you do that? Were you that desperate to get me back that you brought her into this?" He cocked his head to the side giving me a look as if he didn't know what I was talking about.

"Sweetie you can believe what you want, but I didn't tell AJ anything."

"Then how did she know about that night at the club and my drink being rufied? The only people who knew were you, me and Punk; I didn't say anything and neither did Punk, so that leaves you." He shook his head before letting out a deep sadistic laugh that I didn't understand. Confusion was etched on my face as he reached out resting his hands on my shoulders.

"Sara my dear AJ knew about the drink tampering because she was the one who did it just like she was the one who told me Punk was in the trainers room with you and she spread it around the locker room that you and Punk were together…she keeps tabs on you a lot, I thought it was weird at first, but it turns out even though she's with Dolph, she still wants on Punk's dick." Rage radiated through my body; I didn't understand what was wrong with AJ, or Randy for that matter, that they'd go to the lengths they had to keep Punk and I apart, but I wasn't going to let either of them get away with it.

It took Kofi, Dolph and Sheamus to pull me off AJ and it was far from an easy task. They carried me into the hallway kicking and screaming before finally cornering me, Kofi pouring a bottle of water on my head. Despite the rage that was still burning inside, I took a few deep breaths as I began to pace. Giving AJ a bloody nose and a fat lip hadn't solved any of my problems; granted it made me feel a little better, but I still didn't have the one thing I wanted. It clicked at that moment that even though AJ had caused a rift in my relationship with Punk, I was still the ultimate person to blame. I had issues that beating people up wouldn't solve and I was beginning to think maybe, just maybe, I needed some professional help.

"Sara, are you okay?" I stopped pacing as I stared past Kofi catching a glimpse of Punk and quickly turned to run the other direction. I didn't make it far before I was stopped by a stage hand, my backstage brawl had landed me in hot water and Mr. McMahon wanted to see me immediately. As much as I didn't want to lose my job, I couldn't help but think of the relief that would come with my future endeavor. I took a deep breath before knocking on the boss's door, his deep voice summoning me to enter.

"You wanted to see me sir?" He gave me a stern look as he motioned to the chair across from him.

"What's this I hear about you attacking AJ? This isn't like you Sara, what's going on?" I took a deep breath wanting to explain everything that had triggered me to go after AJ, but I stopped short. I had no right to attack her the way I did; granted she deserved a punishment of some kind, but her lip would heal, her nose would stop bleeding, but my life would still be in shambles…I'd still be alone.

"Mr. McMahon there is absolutely no excuse for what happened and I want to apologize to you. You've given me a number of opportunities in this company and I don't feel I'm living up to the expectations set; I'm not in the right mind set right now, there's a lot of things going on in my life personally that I'm afraid have begun to effect my professional career. I understand there will be consequences for my actions and I'm ready to face whatever it is you see fit as a punishment, even if it means the end of my career." Vince sat up in his chair before giving a surprising smirk.

"I appreciate your honesty and the fact that you're taking the full blame, but we've had some issues with AJ recently, so I have an idea that something triggered your actions though I'm not sure what. As far as your punishment I think we're going to send you home for a few weeks…do you think a month will be long enough?" I raised my eyebrow in surprise; this was not what I had been expecting at all.

"Yes sir that's fine with me, but what about the divas championship?"

"Well we'll throw in a backstage segment tonight, you'll be attacked and out with an injury. I can tell you're surprised by this and I will admit I'm being gracious, but you're one of the most talented women we have in the division right now and I'd hate to lose you. I'm hoping that during your time off you seek some sort of anger management…"

"I agree that I need some sort of professional help; it's been a rough couple of months with the loss of my father and a few other things, so I appreciate that you're giving me a second chance."

"As you should; second chances don't come often from me, so take it while you can get it. I hope that during your vacation you sort out the personal issues and come back stronger then ever professionally."

"Will do sir and thank you again; I won't let you down." Vince nodded, his way of dismissing me, and I headed out into the hallway only to run into the one person I'd been trying to avoid. I was surprised when he looked in my direction giving me a small smile.

"So how'd it go?" I looked at him confused wondering just how he knew I'd been called into Vince's office, but before I could ask he was quick to answer, "Word travels fast…Sheamus followed you to make sure you were okay and stayed out of trouble; he overheard the stage hand give you the verbal summons. Based on the smile I'm guessing you lucked out some how and weren't fired."

"No I wasn't…he actually was gracious and gave me some time off so that I can get myself together; I had to promise to enroll in anger management classes though."

"Honestly when I met you Sara I never thought you'd end up enrolling in anger management classes. You were so fragile and soft spoken, cried on a whim…I'm sorry if me being a jerk ruined you."

"Punk you and I both know I wouldn't still be here if I wouldn't have toughened up, so your brutal honesty helped out."

"Believe it or not I think that's the first time anyone has ever told me that." His smile grew bigger and I felt my heart breaking even more, something I didn't think was possible. "You should probably go because AJ will be here any minute."

"What is she being called into the office for?"

"Because I overheard Randy telling you what she did and I went to Vince…" I bit my cheek trying to hold back tears.

"Why would you do that?" He shrugged his shoulders, his gaze falling everywhere but on me.

"It was the right thing to do; regardless what happened between us what she did wasn't right. I probably should've tried to stop you from going after her, but honestly she got what was coming to her. I'm just glad everything worked out in the end…" He rubbed the back of his neck as we stood there, an awkward silence falling between us. A familiar red headed Irish man turned the corner yelling my name and I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn't stand being so close to Phil and not being with him.

"Hey there you are Sara…" His smile fell as he realized who I'd been standing with. "Uhh sorry to interrupt, but creative just decided that you and I are in a mixed tag tonight against Dolph and AJ, so I figured we better chat before hand, but I can come back later." I could see Punk about to speak, but I was quick to speak first.

"That's not necessary…I'll be there in five…" He nodded before turning and walking away. The awkward silence fell between us again before I swallowed the lump in my throat, "I better get going, but thanks…"

"No need for thanks…good luck tonight…" I quickly walked away trying to hold myself together praying he wouldn't follow me, which he didn't, but he did the next worst thing. "Sara…" I stopped walking standing still, but couldn't bring myself to turn around and face him. As much as I wanted to be with Phil, I knew things wouldn't change unless I fixed myself first. "I just wanted to say that I…" The tears came fast and hard, but I forced myself not to look at him.

"Please don't say it…I can't handle it right now…" Before he could say anything I ran away even though I wanted nothing more then to run to him.


	24. Chapter 24

**A little update...working on it today to try to wrap it up, but I'm not sure if it's ready to be wrapped up...anyway, you'll get to read about Sara's time off and then it fast forwards to her return...enjoy!**

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**Sara's POV:**

I'd been home for almost a week and had done nothing but lay on the couch in misery. Living off of junk food and crying over bad lifetime movies had become my life and I couldn't bring myself to want to change it. I couldn't help but wonder when I had become this person; I'd gone through break-ups in the past and never felt so worthless. The difference this time was I'd lost a person I cared about, I'd lost a person I'd loved and I was the sole person to blame.

Thursday night I'd fallen asleep on the couch and scared awake as I felt someone shake me; I stopped short of screaming when I saw Jake.

"Jesus Christ are you trying to give me a heart attack? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here…funny I'd like to ask you the same thing. Aren't you supposed to be in Wisconsin or something?" I ran a hand through my hair letting out a sigh; I never planned to tell anyone I was home, and I was really trying to avoid giving the reason.

"It's a long story…"

"Well that's funny because I've got all night!" Jake was always so relentless to get the truth out of me and no matter how hard I tried to shrug him off, I always broke down and told him about the woes in my life. After an hour, half a box of tissues and a bag of chocolate covered pretzels, I'd bared my soul to my brother who graciously comforted me.

"So what are you going to do about all this?"

"I don't know; I thought the point of me telling you the whole story was so that you could tell me what to do." I sniffled wiping away the last of my tears as he let out a laugh.

"I'm sorry Sara, when you were five and had issues with the bully down the street I could give you advice, but this is out of my league. From my perspective you have two choices; you go back to work and suck it up, or you walk away from your dream job."

"I was afraid you were going to say that…" Jake sat up looking me in the eyes.

"Please don't sound so sad; I know the last year hasn't been a good year for any of us, but dad wouldn't want you to be sitting at home sulking over some guy. I'm incredibly proud of you for going against the grain and doing everything in your power to achieve your life dream, but walking away isn't the worst choice. After all you do have a four year degree in accounting and there's an amazing opportunity that just opened up." I couldn't help but smile a little; I loved wrestling more then anything, but I knew walking away could make me a better person in time, even if I risked becoming a weaker one.

"What would this job opportunity be?"

"It just so happens that Ian and I scored a huge investment into our fitness equipment and we're going to need someone to crunch numbers as our business grows."

"Wait a minute, when did you get this investment?"

"In all actuality it's not public knowledge yet, so don't say anything, but we got on that Shark Tank show and Mark Cuban liked what he saw. They're going to be mass produced and put in all the Planet Fitness gyms in the country."

"Oh my God Jake I'm so happy for you and Ian both; you deserve to be happy."

"As do you little sister…" I felt my eyes start to water again, but managed to hold in the tears. "Look you won't be making hundreds of thousands like you are now, but this is a family run business and you're my favorite person in our family, so if you consider the offer it would be great. Now enough business talk, the game is on; time to turn off this Lifetime garbage you've been watching." I laughed as he turned the channel focusing on the March Madness brackets. I let out a sigh realizing that I now had a reason to walk away from the turmoil in my life thanks to my brothers, but I wasn't sure I was ready to leave wrestling and just forget about Phil.

* * *

**Punk's POV:**

As Kofi traveled the Smackdown circuit more, I found myself feeling lonely and feeling lonely only made me think about Sara more. I'd picked up the phone almost a dozen times in the last few weeks to call her, but every time I brought up her number, I talked myself out of pushing 'call.' We were in a tough spot; I knew I needed to move onto her, I'd gotten the message she was over our relationship, but that still didn't make forgetting her any easier. I don't know why I thought she'd forget all about what I'd said in Chicago when I told her I was the one to go to Vince, but she didn't want to hear that I missed her, nonetheless that I was in love with her.

I played it off that I was fine to everyone who I talked to, which was pretty easy seeing none of them wanted to ask about Sara risking they'd feel my wrath. I had to focus on my career, but every time I stepped into a wrestling ring thoughts of Sara would cloud my head; even though I'd told the front office I would stay on through the end of my contract, I was beginning to wonder if leaving was the better choice.

I walked into the arena in Columbus with my headphones on and my head down; this was my last Raw show before the much needed time off I'd been granted. As much as I knew taking time away could push me out of the main event picture, I needed to take some time to get my head together and properly recoup some recent injuries.

Once I was in my gear, I headed out to find an empty corner in hopes of doing my pre-match warm up in peace; as I rounded the corner I heard a familiar laugh, one that I'd missed hearing the last two months. I heard her say goodbye and quickly turned to head a different direction, but it was too late, I'd been spotted.

"Hey…" I took a deep breath before slowly turning and greeting her with a smile.

"Hey Sara, I didn't know you were back."

"Yeah there have been some storyline changes and Vince decided to bring me back a week earlier." She gave me a friendly smile and I couldn't help but notice how good she looked; clearly a month away from me and the chaos of the company really had done her well, she looked happy…she deserved to be happy. "So, how are things?"

"Uhh they're okay…this is my last show for a while…"

"I thought you decided not to leave…"

"Oh no, it's a temporary thing; I've been with this company for eight years and I've never been granted time off, so it's finally happening. I have a couple injuries that need some time to recoup so that I can hopefully come back one hundred percent."

"Well that's good; you deserve some time and believe me it does wonders." An awkward silence fell between us and as much as I didn't want to, I felt the urge to get away from her. Rather then having to make an excuse, a stage hand came by letting her know she was needed in wardrobe.

"Even without you, this place doesn't slow down." I let out a light laugh noticing her smile fade from her face.

"Listen there was something I wanted to tell you, but seeing I don't really have time now, can we meet up later, like before the show starts?"

"Ahh yeah that shouldn't be a problem; can I ask if everything is okay?" Sara gave me a small smirk.

"It will be; I'll catch up with you later…" I watched Sara walk away as a thousand different things raced through my head; I was curious just what she had to tell me, but I hoped it had something to do with us.


	25. Chapter 25

**So I started this chapter with one idea in mind and it spun into something completely different, but I'm going with it...**

**I'm heading into a super busy week with Easter tomorrow, my birthday Tuesday and I'm heading to NJ for Wrestlemania festivities Friday, but I'm going to try really hard to update before then...no promises, but I'll try :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Sara's POV:**

Showtime crept up faster then I had expected it would and I still hadn't had the chance to talk to Phil. I had fifteen minutes before I was needed in gorilla and was frantically running through the hallway trying to find him, but I wasn't having any luck. Letting out a sigh, I started walking toward the curtain.

I watched Tamina head toward the ring as I tried to focus and get my head in the game, but with so many thoughts going through my head it was harder then I thought it would be. I took a deep breath to try to calm down and jumped as I felt warm hands touch my skin; I turned around to see Phil's dark eyes and any sense of calm I had disappeared.

"I know you don't have a lot of time right now, but can we talk after your match? It sounded like what you wanted to say was important and I kind of have a few things I need to get out too, so I was hoping…" I wanted to cry; he was being so sweet and sincere and I knew it would be pointless to talk once I came back through the curtain because everything I needed to say to him would already be said.

"I don't know if you'll want to talk to me then…" His eyebrows were raised, a puzzling expression on his face; clearly he was lost as to what I was saying. The sound tech gave me my minute countdown and I knew there wasn't any more time for talking, so I pulled him into a hug wishing I didn't have to let go. "Thank you for everything; even though we drove each other crazy I wouldn't change anything with the exception that I would've never doubted you, not even for a second." I pressed my lips to his cheek and quickly turned away grabbing my title just in time for my music to hit. I heard Phil yell my name just as I stepped through the curtain and I paused for a minute wondering if what I was about to do was the right thing. I stood at the top of the ramp staring down at the ring, my eyes beginning to cloud over with emotion because I knew this was my last walk, this was my last hurrah, this was my farewell match and no one knew but me, Tamina and Vince. I plastered on a big smile as I took in the cheers of the crowd and attempted to get in the zone as I started the end of a long journey.

* * *

**Punk's POV:**

I stared at the curtain feeling confused by everything Sara had said; I didn't understand why she thought I wouldn't want to talk to her and her thank you almost came across as a farewell. Granted I was leaving for a period of time, but I was coming back; I wasn't ready to retire. Shaking my head, I got comfortable on a crate near gorilla thinking I could catch her afterwards and watched the monitor curious what the two best divas in the division were going to showcase.

Cole and King were discussing Sara's history as she made her way to the ring and they replayed the clip of Tamina attacking her a month before; I'd seen the clip so many times I started to block it out, but an interview snippet of Sara brought my focus back to the monitor.

_I have no problem saying Tamina is one of the best, but she's far from thee best. I'm the best diva in this division and I've got the title to prove it, hell I'm willing to bet on the fact that I'm better then you Tamina; not only will I put my title on the line, but if you beat me, you can brag that you ended my career as well._

I shook my head in disbelief; surely she wasn't leaving, no she would've told me if that was the case, or she would've tried to tell me. I kicked the crate beside me finding this whole idea to be ridiculous; Sara loved wrestling more then anything, so why was she willing to walk away? I shook the thought out of my head, maybe this was just part of the storyline and Sara would win tonight, surely that was the case because she wouldn't just give up her life long dream in one match; would she?

My eyes were glued to the monitor as the two women went back and forth, countless pin fall and submission attempts failed and I held out hope that Sara would come out the victor, but it happened in a split second; Tamina hit the frog splash and the ref did the three count raising her hand in return. I couldn't believe this had happened and clearly neither could anyone else.

Long after Tamina's music stopped, Sara sat in the corner of the ring, cheers of _Please don't go_ echoing throughout the arena. She just smiled, fighting back tears, as she motioned for a microphone. I hoped she would contest the victory or something, this couldn't be the end, I wouldn't allow it to be the end.

"If someone would have told me a year ago that I'd be standing in an arena in Philadelphia listening to some of the world's best wresting fans chant my name, I would've thought they were crazy. If someone would have told me a year ago that I would be apart of some of the best divas matches since the attitude era, I would have had them committed, but I've experienced all of that on this crazy ride and I've gotten to the point where I have nothing else left to prove…I've done it all…" I didn't bother listening to the rest instead going over to Tony, the sound tech, and demanding a mic.

"Punk I don't think that's a good idea; just let the girl have her moment…"

"Tony I'm not asking you to give me a mic and cue my music, I'm telling you…"

"But Vince…"

"At this point he's the least of my concerns! I can't let her do this, so are you going to do what I say, or do I have to do this on my own?" I glared in his direction and seeing I had six inches and fifty pounds on him, he didn't ask anything else, but rather did what I told him to.

* * *

**Sara's POV:**

I bit my lip to hold back tears, taking in the chants of _Thank You Sara_; the idea that this was the wrong thing to do was still in the back of my head, but I pushed it aside taking in the moment. I had so much to look forward to, and while wrestling had given me so much, I knew I'd move on in time; plus I'd have amazing stories to share with my future children. I smiled the biggest smile I had in months as I waved to the crowd preparing to exit the ring and take my last walk up the ramp, but someone had other plans.

The sound of static and a guitar riff had me standing in disbelief; what the hell was he doing? Now was not the time for him to tell me I was doing the wrong thing, to call me a quitter; all I wanted was a happy memory to depart on and I quickly realized as Phil appeared at the top of the ramp, mic in hand, that wasn't the way I was going out.

"Sara, Sara, Sara…" He shook his head as I leaned on the ropes wondering what the hell he was doing, "It's been one hell of a year and I can speak from first hand experience seeing I was with you for most of that time, but I'm curious just why you're deciding to leave now. You say you've accomplished everything, but you haven't; you have yet to beat the best and if you want the best, you're looking at him."

Phil walked down the ramp still going on and I waited for something to happen; surely they had to go to commercial or Vince would order his mic to be cut, but nothing happened as Phil climbed into the ring.

"I've said I was the best in the world on numerous occasions and I've proved it time and time again; I've beat John Cena, Daniel Bryan, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, hell you name a guy and I've beat him. Who have you beat Sara; what have you done that says you've accomplished everything? If I chose to leave I'd be a first draft into the hall of fame and I'd get well wishes on my retirement, but you won't ever see the hall of fame and quite frankly if you walk out of this ring then you're nothing but a quitter…" I felt my blood pressure rise as Phil kept going; regardless if he was in character or not, I knew he was speaking from the heart and he meant every word he said. I couldn't help but think I was face to face with the old Phil Brooks I'd worked with a year ago and not the one that was so sweet and sincere just minutes before; clearly I'd hit a nerve with him, but I wasn't sure which one.

"Do you have a point here Brooks because if so I'd like you to get to it? There's a big cake in the back with my name on it and I have a red eye back home tonight, so please get to it."

"One more match, next Monday on Raw; you against me and the loser walks away from the company, while the winner is simply declared the best."

"You're insane! I'm not going to wrestle a man just to prove I've done it all…"

"Are you scared of losing? I trained you; I know every trick you have to throw, so if I were you I'd start learning some new tricks…you've got one week…" Phil didn't say anything else instead dropping the mic and leaving the ring. I was left wondering not only what to think, but what to do.


	26. Chapter 26

**I realized I have yet to update this story in the month of April, so I took the evening to get together a couple chapters...this is a bit of filler, but I think it's decent, next chapter is the main event match that I know a lot of you are pretty pumped about...**

**So Wrestlemania weekend was great...Axxess was tons of fun, took a lot of pictures and got to meet Tamina, Matt Striker, Damian Sandow, Vickie Guerrerro, Lita (slight disappointment there seeing I was in line to meet JR and they switched them out right before it was our turn...a bit ironic though) and one of my favorites, The United States Champion, Antonio Cesaro :) We attended the Hall of Fame Sat night and let me just say the TV special didn't do it justice...Sunday's show wasn't what I expected, but I had a great time and was very pleased to see the TRUE main event of Taker vs Punk steal the show...even though I was hoping for a 20-1, I was pretty excited to witness victory number 21...I was fortunate enough to attend Monday's Raw in the rowdy iZod center and even though I had the worst seats I've ever had for a show (behind the titan tron), the crowd atmosphere was great...I loved doing the wave, screamed ridiculously loud when I witnessed Ziggler's cash in and had a fantastic time singing Fandango's theme in the arena and out into the parking lot...I hope the Fandango Revolution make people realize that Johnny Curtis isn't just another pretty face, he deserves a shot, he's been working a very long time for one...**

**Anyway, enough of my blabbering (thanks if you actually read any of that), I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll try to update this weekend...hopefully by then my Wrestlemania hangover will be cured and life will be back to normal (as much as I don't want it to be)...thanks for reading and please review! :D**

* * *

**Sara's POV:**

I was barely through the curtain when I heard Vince yelling; even though this wasn't my doing, I knew I was about to pay for it.

I reluctantly sat next to Punk as Vince paced back and forth, "Does someone want to explain to me just what the hell is going on?" I waited for Phil to speak up and tell Vince this was all his idea and that I was the innocent party, but he just sat picking at his fingernails; needless to say the silence wasn't the answer Vince was looking for.

"Do you two think its fun to just go off and create your own story line? I don't give a damn if you are top stars or not, you have no right to take over my show and do whatever the hell you want. Because of this, our main storyline has been bumped out of the main event spot for next week and is being replaced with you two. Even if that little stunt does piss me off, the social media buzz is off the charts and if I don't give the fans this match next week, my head is on the table! I don't give a shit what you have to do, but you need to get something together and that something better be good or so help me I'll have both of your heads mounted next to mine!" I couldn't bear to even look at Vince finding the intimidation factor to exceed what I was accustomed to, but was able to let out a sigh of relief as he left the room slamming the door behind him.

"Are you happy now? My work was done here and I was slated to start my new job next Monday, but now I have to call and reschedule because of your big mouth! I don't know what pisses me off more, the fact that you got us into this, or that you won't own up to it! You are such a selfish bastard I seriously can't stand it!" I screamed in frustration, my hands gripping my hair as I heard the faint sound of a chuckle.

"It's kind of funny how you think I did this for me, somewhat flattering really. I don't need the social media buzz Sara, I was champ for 434 days and main evented multiple pay per views, so this isn't about me."

I stood up wanting to get the last word in and wanting so badly to wipe the smug look off Punk's face. "Then what is it about? Is there a reason you want me to stay because if there is you've been pretty lousy at expressing it up until this point. Hell it would've been nice if you would've called a week ago when I finally convinced myself that clearly you were over me and you weren't any good for me...if you would've given me one good reason to stay, I wouldn't have hesitated…" Punk stood up towering over me by at least a foot; I suddenly felt my breath hitch in my throat, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest.

"You were the one who lost faith in me, not the other way around sweet heart…" I wanted to say something, make one final jab that would bring him to his knees, but his words were true. I stood speechless as he turned to walk out the door, stopping with his hand on the handle. "I don't know how next week is going to play out, but all I ask is that you bring everything you've got; that passion and fighting spirit that I know you have, bring it to the ring. Don't pull your punches, I want to feel every ounce of frustration you've been carrying for the last month because if at the end of the match you get the pin then I'm truly done with wrestling and you're free to do whatever you want. If you really want to get away from the world of pro wrestling, if you want to get away from me, then give me a reason to let you go. Better yet give me a reason to believe that I did the right thing keeping you here, even if it's just for another week." I slumped back down in a chair trying to comprehend what was happening around me. The room began spinning, everything was in overdrive; I had to find a way out of this.

* * *

**Sara's POV:**

Friday night I laid in bed staring at the ceiling before glancing at the clock again; it was pushing 2:30AM and I was wide awake unable to stop reliving the nightmare that had become my life. Monday's events had been on repeat, I couldn't ignore them regardless how much I tried; everyone asked me about it, and they wouldn't drop it until I gave in.

Letting out a sigh, I threw back the blankets deciding that if I couldn't rest, I could at least squeeze in another workout. The gym helped me stay sane; not only was I able to work out pent up aggression, but I knew it would come in handy for my match against Punk. I'd spent the last five days trying to get out of it, but it was no use, the match was made.

I was going hard on the punching bag hitting one, two combos with the sounds of Against Me echoing in my ears; I was so in the zone, I never noticed anyone approaching until the bag stopped spinning forcing me to look up and meet those devilish hazel eyes.

"If you're picturing me while hitting the bag, then I'd say I'm in trouble come Monday. You should cool down though killer, don't want to hurt yourself before then." I rolled my eyes removing my gloves and tossing them aside. Part of me knew Phil would be in the gym; he was always trying to fit in an extra workout and everyone knew he never slept.

"I thought you'd be down here, figured I could ignore you though; apparently I'm not that lucky."

"I thought about leaving you alone, but I like to eye up the competition when I get the chance...especially if said competition looks as good as you." He winked in my direction getting another eye roll in return; I wanted so badly to just walk away, but something kept my grounded where I was. Every time I looked at him, I couldn't help but want to get closer; I missed the feeling of his arms wrapped around me and the sweet way he used to kiss my forehead never caring who was around to see the affection. A number of emotions hit me at that point and I bit my tongue to keep them in check.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what? I thought I'd be nice and give you some feedback on your form; it's considered my good deed for the week and you'll be able to correct what you're doing wrong."

"That's not what I mean...why did you cut that promo? You've gotten us both into a situation that won't go away; I've tried everything possible to get out of doing this match and the only thing that'll stop it is you. This is ridiculous Phil; I'm ready to move on with my life. I've achieved what I set out to do, why can't you accept that?" My eyes were clouded with tears as I stared at him noticing that smirk fade away, replaced with a look of guilt. He was quiet for a minute and I took the opportunity to grab my bag and leave, but I felt his hand on my arm before I got away.

It happened so quickly, one minute I was heading for the door and the next I was wrapped up in the very arms I'd longed to be in, his soft lips meeting mine and an intense, breath taking kiss occurred. He pulled away quickly and was gone before I could even form an intelligent thought.

* * *

**Punk's POV:**

Monday came quicker then I wanted it to and as I stretched I couldn't help but think me opening my mouth on live television and challenging Sara was a huge mistake. I hadn't been able to face her since Friday night in the gym; I still couldn't figure out what had come over me, but there was something about her I couldn't let go. Much like the first day I met her, I found myself drawn to her and seeing her upset, knowing it was because of me, I hated myself for it.

I'd made the attempt to talk to Vince about calling the match off trying to make him realize all of the negative publicity it would bring having a male fight a female, but it was useless, like talking to a wall. All he saw was ratings and ratings meant dollar signs, so with the generic line "I'll take it under advisement" I was sent on my way; an hour later the final show script was passed out and low and behold Sara and I were the main event.

I found myself zoning out before I felt a tap on my shoulder and was met by Kofi; he was one of the few people that I could talk to that would actually listen.

"How you doing man; ready for the main event?"

"Absolutely not…the upside is I don't think Sara is either…" Kofi shook his head, which made me curious what I'd missed. "What?"

"She isn't messing around with this; not only has she been working out two and three times a day, but she was sparring with Regal earlier; I even overheard her asking advice from Cena about working with you. Don't go out there afraid to hit a girl because she's ready for you!"

"Well as happy as I am to hear that, I'll admit I'm not ready for her. I've messed up a lot, but with Sara I think I've destroyed any hope of the two of us being together."

"Normally I'd feel for you in this situation because you're my boy, but you kind of brought it on yourself. What the hell were you thinking last week?" I smirked; that had been the million dollar question of the week and I'd given everyone a smug answer, but with Kofi I knew he could tell the difference between my bullshit and the truth.

"Honestly I was grasping straws; I saw one of the best women to ever enter this company on her way out and I knew it had nothing to do with her achieving her goals and everything to do with me. I thought if I had one more week I could convince her to stay and try again, but instead I stuck my foot in my mouth and we're in a main event match. It's true proof that I'm not always the best when it comes to saying the right thing." Kofi shook his head before patting me on the back.

"I don't know what's going to happen out there, but I don't think you should give up hope just yet; you never know crazier things have happened." Kofi left the locker room leaving me alone with my thoughts again, his words echoing in my head. Even though crazier things had happened, even to me, I had a sense that a relationship with Sara would never happen again. I let out a deep sigh hearing the locker room door open again as the stage manager gave me the fifteen minute warning. Pulling a T-shirt over my head, I started towards gorilla knowing there was no stopping this and as long as she was bringing everything she had, I was determined not to let her down.

* * *

**Next chapter is the main event match and honestly as much as I'm trying to wrap this story up, I'm having a hard time settling on an ending...toss some feedback my way if you get a chance, it's much appreciated :) Thanks for reading!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Okay, so I wrote this earlier today and then stared at the screen for a long time trying to write something more before deciding that this actually is a decent way to end things...it's probably not what most are expecting, but I'm going with it...I've been trying really hard to wrap this one up so I can move onto the Punk/Melissa/Brooke story as well as the 500 sequels and new ideas I have floating around on a daily basis...**

**Thanks so much for reading this story and taking a liking to it...it's been a pleasure :)**

* * *

**Sara's POV:**

I leaned against the turnbuckle, my eyes refusing to leave his for a second; the butterflies in my stomach were in full flight though I wasn't sure if it was nerves or something else, the very something I'd been trying to ignore since our last meeting. Even though the sound of the crowd was deafening, I managed to block them out fully focusing on one thing: winning. From day one Punk had been nothing but brutally honest, that honesty sometimes bringing out emotions I'd tried to hold in, but I knew this was my last chance to prove to him I was ready to move on…if only I could prove that to myself.

The sound of the bell brought me out of my thoughts as I walked to meet Phil in the center of the ring.

"Are you sure you're ready for this? We can both still bail, granted we'll both be fired, but at this point you want out and I don't care either way." I answered his question with my right hand meeting his cheek; he smirked as his hand rubbed at the red mark.

"You have no idea what I want, so don't try to pretend you do. As for bailing on this match, you started it, so I hope you're prepared to finish it."

"You asked for it, but don't be surprised when I don't take it easy on you…" With that Punk grabbed my arm, spinning me around and grabbing me from behind. I fought to get out of his grasp, but despite all my training, I'd underestimated just how strong he was. His hold broke as I he preformed a German suplex causing me to land hard on my back knocking the air out of my lungs. I thought back to his words the week before where he'd challenged me to bring the passion and fighting spirit he knew I had; I dug down deep as I got to my feet, aiming hard kicks to his ribs and not feeling bad about it for a second.

* * *

**Punk's POV:**

Sara had gotten in a few kicks before I grabbed her foot knocking her back down to the mat; she laid there for a minute before attempting to get up, but I knocked her back down before putting her in a chin lock.

She scratched at my arms as I fought harder to keep the hold locked in. "So, this may very well be the last time we ever see or speak to each other, so I have a few things that I think you should know." She didn't take my attempt at conversation lightly as her fist came back hitting me in the temple; before I could react, she had Jericho's 1004th hold locked in, the arm bar, and I was forced to use every amount of strength I had left to get to the ropes. I was an arms length away when she started pulling harder.

"I don't care what you have to say; I'm so tired of you fucking with my head! You've done it since the day I met you and I'm not going to let you do it anymore!"

I ignored her noticing she was doing just as I asked her to do, bringing everything she had. "God damnit Sara you're going to break my arm, could you please lighten up a little!" She dropped the hold all together and Mike Chiotta bent down to ask if I could continue; I ignored his question instead struggling to get to my feet, leaning in the corner attempting to get my bearings. In the midst of gasping for air, Sara came at me landing a high knee before following it up with a running bulldog; I couldn't believe she'd stolen some of my signature moves, but as I saw her further mock me from the top rope, saluting Randy Savage, I moved at the last minute hearing her yell out in pain grasping her elbow.

"Mother fucker!" Despite the pain in my arm, I couldn't help but laugh.

"That's what you get for mocking me…" Both of us laid still on the mat, staring up at the ceiling, the crowd counting along with the referee.

"Have I told you how much I hate you?"

"Not recently, but I felt it with that arm bar and the high knee. If my arm isn't fucked then I guarantee you might have broken my nose…has any of this made you feel better?" The referee reached a count of six and I noticed Sara stirring out of the corner of my eye.

"The only thing that would make me feel better is if I had never met you…then I wouldn't think about you, or want to see you, or…" I pulled myself up as we met in the middle of the ring staring at each other.

"Or what? You wouldn't be in love with me? You wouldn't want to spend everyday with me?" She pushed me before hitting the ropes hoping to hit me with a clothesline, but I countered hitting her with one first; before she could get up, I locked in the anaconda vice knowing she'd have no other choice but to talk to me, or at least listen. "Just admit it Sara, you're in love with me and you're just as much to blame for us breaking up as I am…"

"The only thing I'll admit to you is that you're an asshole." I smiled noticing her grit her teeth.

"Thanks for the reminder, but a number of people before you have made that point. Seeing that you won't admit how you feel, then I guess it's my turn." Sara's shoulders fell to the mat for a count of two, but she pulled herself back up struggling to reach the ropes. "I fucked up that night in Chicago; granted I meant everything I said and it hurt that you believed that crazy bitch over me, but I made a mistake watching you walk away and not going after you. I made an even bigger mistake not telling you how I felt after that, but you shut me down that night in Pittsburgh and I thought that was you telling me you were done. I don't want to be done with you and that's the reason we're in this ring right now; this was the only way I could get you to listen to me. Granted was this the best idea I've ever had, no way, it's pretty fucking dumb actually, but off the cuff it came to mind and I knew there would be no way for you to get out of it; you'd be forced to deal with me and I'd get to throw in the last word." Sara was quiet as I saw the look of pain leave her face, replaced with determination; before I knew it she'd turned the submission hold into a pin. The refs hand hit the mat three times and her music hit as I laid in the middle of the ring trying to gather up whatever confidence she hadn't just stomped on so I could drag myself to the back. I don't know what I was thinking, but this wasn't how I wanted things to end between us.

* * *

**Sara's POV:**

Mike Chiotta raised my hand in victory and I held my right arm close to my chest feeling pain radiate from my shoulder to my wrist; the promise to not take it easy on one another wasn't the smartest thing we'd ever done. The crowd roared as cheers of "She beat you" echoed through the arena, but while I should have felt satisfaction, my hard work paying off, I couldn't stop thinking about everything Phil had said. In mid-hold I thought he was messing with my head, but as I glanced into his hazel eyes all I saw was honesty; the same brutal honesty that had made me cry on different occasions had come into play again though I didn't know how to react.

I noticed Phil propping himself up in the corner holding his arm to his chest and attempting to get out of the ring leaving me to my celebration, but I knew that wasn't how things should have ended. To his surprise, as well as my own, I walked over extending my hand to help him up before raising both of our arms in victory. He extended his hand in return giving me a congratulatory hand shake.

"You got me this time; I guess if I wouldn't have been blabbering on then I would've seen that pin coming. Regardless I want to thank you, even if my arm is fucked up right now, I think we gave the crowd something good. I haven't felt chemistry like this in a while, forgot how it felt." I nodded finding that the words in my head didn't want to form coherent sentences so that I could tell him what I thought in return. He turned to exit the ring and I realized I didn't want him to go.

"Punk wait…" He turned on the edge of the apron, "I need to hear something from you…"

"What is it?"

"Did you let me win?"

"What? No, of course not; you earned that win, but next time it's on…then again I guess there won't be a next time seeing you're free to leave."

"What makes you think there won't be a next time? There you go again thinking you know what's going on with me…you really shouldn't assume things…" He smirked shaking his head.

"Well whatever you decide, good luck with it…"

"Luck is for losers…" Before I could think twice about it, my lips were on his, the crowd erupting, looks of shock plastered on every males face, envious females looking on in awe. When I pulled away, Phil looked just as surprised as everyone else; the pain in my arm returned as I hopped off the apron, Phil following close behind.

"Do you want to explain what that was about, or should I just take it for what it was?"

"Maybe it was something more, maybe it was nothing; think about it and meet me in the trainer's room." I walked away wearing a big smile knowing I'd left Phil scratching his head, but it would all be explained in time.

* * *

**So originally I also wrote an epilogue to this story, but it was incredibly cheesy and cliché...I just wasn't feeling it...This way you kind of write your own ending...for instance my epilogue had Sara and Punk living happily ever after celebrating their 5 year anniversary with a baby boy on the way...then I also debated having Sara end up with Randy and having a friendly dinner with Punk and Amy only to discover that Sara and Punk are having an affair with one another haha There's a number of directions you could go, curious how you would end the story...Thanks again for reading and as always all feedback is appreciated :)**


End file.
